This article examines the impact of long-term incarceration on prisoners with the goal of contributing to the development of effective policies and programs for the treatment and management of prisoners. The relationship between long-term incarceration and prison suicide is explored. The authors raises numerous questions regarding the nature of prison suicide. He conludes by suggesting that to claim suicide and self mutilation are straight forward and inevitable consequences of long-term incarceration would be overly simplistic and untrue, and suggests the need for further investigation into the causes of prison suicide.