{
  "abstract": "Background Suicide is one of the most common causes of death in correctional settings. This study aimed to analyse prison suicide prevention policies and procedures across Latin America.Methods For this multiple case study, we collected data on prison suicide prevention in policies (laws), programmes (institutional framework) and protocols (procedures) from 17 Latin American countries, from (1) the public domain and (2) archival records held by prison administrations. The search was conducted using Google, through hand search on prison administration websites and requests to public information departments and prison administrations. Theory-driven thematic analysis was conducted based on 11 key components of suicide prevention in prison. Presence and quality of policies, programmes and protocols were assessed using tailored instruments. Between-country comparisons were made by cross-case analysis.Results Data were retrieved from 17 Latin American jurisdictions. Nine cases had a policy or law, 6 had an institutional plan or programme and 13 had suicide prevention protocols. In 6 of the 17 cases (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Panama), the three elements were present. Among the 13 cases with protocols, 7 (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay) had high, 2 had medium and 4 cases had low quantity and quality of key components. In the composite quality assessment of policies, programmes and protocols, three cases (Argentina, Colombia and Mexico) had high quality, four cases had medium quality and the other seven cases had low quality of suicide prevention in place.Conclusion Many Latin American countries still need to draft policies and develop institutional frameworks for suicide prevention in prison. Most countries may review their suicide prevention protocols in prisons to cover all key components with clear procedures. Prison administrations in Latin America should publish internal plans and protocols for prison suicide prevention to facilitate cross-country policy evaluations and research.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Doctorado en Psicoterapia, Medical Faculties and Faculties of Social Sciences, Universidad de Chile and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile",
        "Dirección General del Sistema de Investigación, Centro Universitario de Occidente, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala"
      ],
      "name": "Pablo Antonio Cifuentes-Gramajo"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Lukas Beigel"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine. Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile",
        "School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile"
      ],
      "name": "Felix Bacigalupo"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ministerio de Justicia y Paz, San José, Costa Rica"
      ],
      "name": "Gerson Gómez-Durán"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Jefatura Departamento de Salud, Gendarmería de Chile, Santiago, Chile"
      ],
      "name": "César Cortés-Jara"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Subsecretaría del Sistema Penitenciario de la Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico"
      ],
      "name": "José Luis Osnaya"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Área de Salud Mental, Procuración Penitenciaria de la Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina"
      ],
      "name": "Elisabet Eterovich"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Subdirección Académica, Escuela Penitenciaria Nacional, Instituto Nacional Penitenciario y Carcelario, Bogotá, Colombia"
      ],
      "name": "María Isabel Cuartas-Giraldo"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, Middlesbrough, England, UK",
        "Mental Health and Addictions Research Group, Health Sciences Department, University of York, York, England, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Anne Aboaja"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Division of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, England, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Daniel Pratt"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Mental Health and Addictions Research Group, Health Sciences Department, University of York, York, England, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Amanda E Perry"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Andrew Forrester"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile",
        "Centro Especializado para la Prevención del Consumo de Sustancias y el Tratamiento de las Adicciones (CESA), Facultad de Medicina Norte, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile"
      ],
      "name": "Adrian P Mundt"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Suicide prevention in Latin American prisons: a multiple case study with meta-matrix of policies, programmes and protocols in 17 countries",
  "uid": "a99486b1-d694-59a9-b565-f7b05583da7c"
}