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Home Office

Answer

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of (a) male and (b) female prisoners have (i) self- harmed, (ii) attempted suicide and (iii) committed suicide while in prison in each of the last five years. [191332] Paul Goggins: The numbers and percentages of individuals who self-harmed or apparently took their own lives in prisons (1999-2003), are included in the following tables. While the new self-harm reporting system which started in 2003 has improved the consistency with which such incidents are reported, and improved the detail and quality of the information collected, it makes meaningful comparisons across time more difficult. Table 1: Numbers and proportions of male self-inflicted deaths and self-harm _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Male Prison Numbers of male Percentage of males Numbers of males Percentage of males population self- inflicted who killed who harmed who harmed deaths themselves themselves themselves 1999 61,523 86 0.14 2,569 4 2000 61,252 73 0.12 2,922 5 2001 62,560 67 0.11 3,510 6 2002 66,479 86 0.13 3,485 5 2003 68,612 80 0.12 -- -- _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Table 2: Numbers and proportions of female self-inflicted deaths and self- harm _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Female prison Number of female Percentage of Number of females Percentage of population self- inflicted females who killed who harmed females who harmed deaths themselves themselves themselves 1999 3,247 5 0.15 296 9 2000 3,350 8 0.24 413 12 2001 3,740 6 0.16 632 17 2002 4,299 9 0.21 904 21 2003 4,425 14 0.32 -- -- _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: A new form for reporting self injury (the F213sh) was introduced across the prison estate in December 2002.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426 c1438-40W;426 c1442-4W; 191332

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Women Prisoners Prisons Men Suicide Self-harm

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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