Written question asked by Paul Marsden (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 7 May 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 22 May 2003. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Thursday, 22 May 2003 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) suicides and (b) incidents of self harm there were among 15 to 17 year old girls in prison in each year since 1997. - Including table.

Answer: Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) suicides and (b) incidents of self harm there were among 15 to 17-year- old girls in prison in each year since 1997. [112519] Paul Goggins: There have been no self-inflicted deaths in prison of female juveniles in the years since 1997. The following table covers the number of recorded incidents of self-harm by female juveniles between 1998 and 2002. Relevant data on self-harm before 1998 are not available. Self-harm among female juveniles: 1998-20021 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number of incidents 1998 8 1999 20 2000 44 2001 122 2002 107 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Up to and including December 2002. The Prison Service has made improvements in the recording of self-harm incidents, including the implementation of a new monitoring system from December 2002. The Prison Service has a duty of care to all prisoners in its custody and, recognising that self-harm is a particular problem among young female prisoners, is currently developing several interventions that may help them reduce and manage self-harm in prison. One such example is at Holloway prison where all prisoners, including juveniles, who have been identified as at risk of suicide or self-harm are offered individual crisis counselling.

Secondary information