Male inmates (n=146) were recruited from the Palm Beach County, Florida, Detention Center. Their mean age was 28.28 years; 50 percent were white, and 45 percent were black; 19 percent were charged with homicide. Approximately 75 percent had been incarcerated at least once prior, with a 4.78 mean number of past arrests. Results concurred with those of previous studies indicating a connection between stress- psychosocial vulnerability and suicide ideation. Fifty-one percent of the variation in suicide ideation could be accounted for by combined factors of social alienation, cognitive distortion, low reasons for living, and jail stress. The authors suggest that future research examine why these influences move some individuals, but not others, from ideation to suicidal behavior. 3 tables and 37 references