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Home Office

Answer

Jackie Ballard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prisoners hanged themselves in 1999; [137801] (2) what operational lessons have been learned, and what changes have been made, following the deaths in HMP Leicester in December 1999; and if he will make a statement; [137721] (3) how many prisoners suffered permanent damage as a result of an attempted suicide in 1999; [137802] (4) what was the elapsed time between estimated time of death and discovery of the body for each prisoner who committed suicide in 1998 and 1999. [137800] Mr. Boateng: 86 of the 91 self-inflicted deaths in custody in 1999 were by hanging. There is no reliable information about attempted suicides as at present no distinction is made between forms of self-harm. Long term or permanent physical or psychological damage can result from a variety of forms of self-harm, including substance abuse. There were 173 self-inflicted deaths in 1998 and 1999, and full information about the timing of these deaths in relation to the discovery of the bodies could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Of 40--the first 20 in both years--cases examined, 22 inquest reports contain no record of estimated time of death. Of the remainder, nine deaths are estimated to have occurred between eight minutes and six hours 25 minutes before discovery of the body and nine deaths between 15 minutes and 78 days afterwards. There have been six self-inflicted deaths in Leicester prison in the last year, including two in December 1999. Internal inquiries are complete in respect of five of the six and have identified no failures of basic procedures or apparent links between the six deaths. Five Coroners' inquests are awaited. Since January 2000, the prison's care suite has been refurbished, is permanently manned and in regular use. Two crisis suites are being introduced. Leicester's good and active Listener scheme has been expanded. Improved accommodation will be provided for new receptions. The continuing rise in prisoner suicides, particularly in local prisons like Leicester, has prompted a major review of the Prison Service's work on suicide prevention. There will be a focus on local prisons like Leicester because they have high proportions of unconvicted prisoners and large throughputs and disproportionate numbers of their populations at the most risk of suicide or self-harm.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

356 c695-6W; 137801;137721;137802;137800

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Death Prisoners Prisons Suicide Self-harm HMP Leicester

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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