Questions regarding suicide

[el67ko]

This may seen like a strange question, but I work as a booking officer for a county jail which recently became an INS holding facility. I took many many years of spanish classes in highschool and college which I promptly forgot and I am now giving myself a crash course. I am relearning the grammar and vocabulary, but there are several fields which are not covered anywhere as far as I can tell. The one I am looking for specifically regards suicide screening. How would one ask the following...

Are you suicidal (currently)?
Through the one bilingual inmate I have found so far I am simply using ¿Quiere suicidarse? My fear is that it is too forward for a more sensitive topic. The follow up question to that would be "Do you have a previous suicide attempt?" which I am very unsure of.

Other problems I have had are regarding the words "headcout" which has been giving to me simply as "Cuenta" but does not seem to always work. Also the word for "razor" has been given to me as "una navaja para afeitarse", "una afeitadora" and "un rastrillo". The only reason I ask for these are because every night at headcount we are required to offered razors. They are single blade disposable BIC razors. Also the word for "nailclippers" would be helpful.

I understand these words seem to be random but they are crucial for my job. Any native speakers or bilingual speakers who could help me out, or give me any other words regarding jails, OR point me in the direction of proper literature, I would be much appreciative. I have purchased several law enforcement, medical, mental health books off of amazon but they are all very generic and not really all that helpful.

Thank you in advance!

[cogu]

Hi!

I'm not bilingual, but I would say that the question "¿Quiere suicidarse? is too straightforward, indeed. I don't think it's very appropriate. I would go for:

¿Tiene usted tendencias suicidas?
¿Ha tenido usted algún intento de suicidio?

instead.

As for "razor", I believe that cuchilla or navaja could work perfectly. They are quite general terms.

I'm unsure about suggesting a proper translation for "headcount" (I think you misspelt it, please correct me if I'm wrong) without knowing the context. It could be many things depending on the sentence: Número de personas, recuento, personal...

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by el67ko

This may seem ... I took many, many years of Spanish classes in high school ...

Other problems I have had are regarding the words "headcount" ...

nailclippers = el cortaúñas

[el67ko]

Thank you for the help, and apologies for the typos it was late last night when I typed that up.

I did indeed misspell "Headcount". It is a general term in jails for a roll call where inmates line up outside of their cells and have their names called off to make sure everyone is present. There may not be a direct translation.

I am learning quickly that there are many ways to say just about everything, and a lot of times it does not match up with what you will learn out of a book. Of our hispanic population we are probably 80% Mexicans ages 18-30, mostly uneducated, so there is a lot of slang involved. The other 20% is made up of Colombians, Hondurans, Guatemalans, Cubans etc. all whom have a slight variation in their wordings.

[cogu]

"Headcount". It is a general term in jails for a roll call where inmates line up outside of their cells and have their names called off to make sure everyone is present.

In that case, "recuento" fits well. Said in other words, "pasar lista".

I noted I also mispelt suicidas before. Sorry about that.