The purpose of the study is to reveal the impact of prisoners and convicts’ satisfaction on their relationship with closer environment on their suicidal tendencies, as well as on feeling of hopelessness as a predictor of suicide.

Methodology. The interrogation of 181 imprisoned persons in penal institutions (pre-trial detention centers) located in 21 oblasts of Ukraine was conducted in order to clarify the indicators and the relationships between them. The following methods were used: 1) test “SR-45” (by Yunatskevych) that reveals a tendency to suicide risk; 2) Beck’s “Hopelessness” scale that reveals the level of hopelessness; 3) questionnaire of measuring the satisfaction with interpersonal relations that influences the level of the convicts relationship with the three groups that make up the social environment: relatives (family), employees of penal institutions (pre-trial detention centers) and other convicts. A five-point Likert scale was used in the questionnaire.

Results. The study revealed an impact on the level of suicide risk regarding the relationship with personnel of the penal institutions (p≤0.01) – bad relations with the personnel increase the susceptibility of convicts to suicide. The influence of the level of convicts’ satisfaction with relationship with the personnel (p≤0.01) and with their relatives (p≤0.01) on the feeling of hopelessness was also revealed – the higher the satisfaction, the lower the hopelessness. No statistically significant effects of convicts’ satisfaction with relationships with other convicts on the level of suicidal reactions and on the hopelessness were found.

Practical implications. The obtained results indicate the need for preventive measures aimed at raising awareness of the personnel of the penal institution and pre-trial detention centers on the aspects of convicts’ suicidal behavior and the socio-psychological competence in general, promoting the preservation of prisoners’ relationship with their relatives.

Originality/value. The research was conducted by the authors in September 2020 – March 2021. This is the first attempt in Ukrainian psychological science to study empirically the impact of prisoners and convicts’ satisfaction with their relationship with the social environment on their suicidal intentions.

Key words: imprisoned, convicts, suicide, suicidal behavior, relationship satisfaction, administration, family and relatives.

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