Suicide by self-disembowelment in prison.

Abstract

Self-inflicted abdominal injuries are uncommon. Fatal self-inflicted abdominal injury is a rare occurrence, especially as a custodial death. A prisoner under-trial for attempted suicide was in judicial custody and was found unconscious in a pool of blood in the bathroom with cut open abdomen and exposed coils of intestine. The bathroom was found locked from inside and had to be forcibly opened. In spite of immediate hospitalisation and appropriate emergency surgical treatment, he succumbed on the same day. As the person had previously made several futile attempts to commit suicide and was in fact under trial for the crime of attempted suicide (section 309 of Indian Penal Code), the prison authorities had already taken good precautions to prevent access to any type of weapon, instrument, or material that could rekindle the thought of another attempt. In spite of all this, he successfully committed suicide with an apparently innocuous object, a disposable razor. This case is reported for the rarity of occurrence of this type of suicide, and it highlights the importance of utmost precautions to be taken in dealing with prisoners having suicidal tendencies.