Estimating the Feelings of Prisoners Regarding Hope vs Despair: A Mind Genomics Exploration

Prisoners are often thought to harbor thoughts about suicide, with sensationalized stories about the despair in prisons touching the hearts of listeners and readers. We explore the degree to which ordinary people, non-prisoners, feel that there is despair versus hope among prisoners. Through experimentally designed vignettes, we describe who the prisoner IS, what the prisoner FACES, what the OTHER PRISONERS are like, and what preparatory efforts are in place regarding RELEASE. Each respondent read a unique set of 24 vignettes, comprising different elements, and for each vignette rated the degree to which the prisoner would be likely to think of committing suicide versus be hopeful. The analysis reveals the specific contribution of each element in the vignette as a driver of projected suicide versus hopes, and the numbers of tenths of second required to ‘process’ the element before making the decision. The study suggests two mind-sets, one focusing on the prisoner, the other focusing on the surrounding, each as a driver of despair, as represented by the phrase ‘contemplates suicide.’