The authors describe 9 psychiatric inpatients from the same hospital who leaped from a height. Common features included youth, social isolation, diagnosis of schizophrenia & chronic psychosis despite neuroleptic therapy. All had prolonged hospitalizations & a history of assaults, suicide attempts or both. The authors suggest that these characterisitcs in conjunction with a recent change in hospital treatment plan or loss of social supports may identify patients at high-risk for self-injury.