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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many cases of non-fatal self-harm there were in (a) young offender institutions and (b) adult prisons in each financial year from 1996-97 to 1999-2000 and in the period since 1 April 2000; [142437] (2) how many (a) convicted prisoners and (b) remand prisoners committed suicide in (i) 1996-97, (ii) 1997-98, (iii) 1998-99, (iv) 1999-2000 and (v) the period since 1 April; how many suicides in each period took place in young offender institutions; and if he will make a statement. [142438] Mr. Boateng: The available figures requested are given in the tables. Self-inflicted death figures are given both for young offenders under 21 and Young Offender Institutions (YOIs): the former is higher because many young offenders are not accommodated in YOIs. I regret that I am not at present able to provide reliable 2000-01 self-inflicted death figures by establishment type, but will write to the hon. Member when the information is available. I regret also that I am also unable to provide figures for the numbers of self-harm incidents for this year. The Prison Service is looking at putting in place a new system for recording such incidents, but this will not provide data for 2000-01. The Prison Service is reconsidering with Ministers its suicide/ self-harm strategy and an announcement will be made early in 2001. A. Self-inflicted deaths of sentenced and unsentenced prisoners between 1996-2000 in HM prison establishments in England and Wales _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Status Financial year Sentence Remand Judgment respite Convicted Total unsentenced 1996-97 28 28 7 1 64 1997-98 32 29 4 9 74 1998-99 27 38 6 11 82 1999-2000 34 47 3 7 91 2000-01{1} 27 28 2 -- 57 Total 148 170 22 28 368 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Up to and including 7 December 2000 B. Self-inflicted deaths of under 21s in HM prison establishments in England and Wales _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number 1996-97 16 1997-98 8 1998-99 14 1999-2000 15 2000-01{1} 13 Total 66 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Up to and including 7 December 2000 C. Self-inflicted deaths in HMYOI prison establishments in England and Wales _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number 1996-97 10 1997-98 4 1998-99 4 1999-2000 7 Total 25 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. D. Self harm figures 1996-99 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 Adult male 3,472 4,597 4,730 Female 730 1,107 1,228 YOI 1,171 1,319 1,439 Total number of self harm 5,373 7,023 7,398 incidents _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

359 c113-4W;359 c111-2W; 142437;142438

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Prisoners Prisons Young offenders Suicide Self-harm Young offender institutions

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk