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Home Office

Answer

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of (a) self-harm, (b) suicide and (c) attempted suicide have been recorded at HM Prison Holloway in each of the past five years; and what discussions he has held with the governor and staff concerning these figures. [179693] Paul Goggins: The information requested about self- inflicted deaths and self-harm is provided in the following table. Suicidal intent is not easy to establish. The reasons why people self-injure are highly complex, and it is difficult to distinguish between acts of self-harm that were attempts at ending life, and those that occurred for other reasons. It is not possible, therefore, for the Prison Service to determine from the general figures recording incidents of self-harm those acts that could be described as attempts at suicide. The figures for self-harm in the table therefore include all acts of self- harm, however serious. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number of self-inflicted deaths1 Number of recorded incidents of self-harm2 1999 2 248 2000 1 122 2001 1 542 2002 1 765 2003 0 3851 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 The Prison Service employs the term "self-inflicted death" rather than suicide. This includes all those deaths where it appears the person acted intentionally to take his/her own life. 2 The figures provided are number of incidents of self-harm, not number of individuals. 3 In December 2002, a new form for reporting self-injury (the F213SH) was introduced across the prisons estate in England and Wales, which is known to have improved reporting practices. Please note therefore that much of the increase in reported self- harm in 2003 may result from the change in reporting procedures rather than reflect an actual increase in incidence of self-harm. In 2004 to 16 June, there have been two apparently self-inflicted deaths at Holloway; the number of incidents of self-harm is not yet available. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, visited Holloway in April 2004, and I visited the establishment in October 2003. We both had the opportunity to talk with the Governor, with a number of prison staff from a variety of disciplines, and with groups of prisoners. It was clear from our wide-ranging discussions that Holloway is dealing with a large number of vulnerable women, many of whom enter custody already struggling to cope with a wide range of difficult issues that increase their likelihood of suicide and self-harm. These include mental health, drug and alcohol problems; histories of abuse, troubled relationships and social exclusion; as well as past experiences of self-harm. Both my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and I were impressed with Holloway's First Night in Custody Project, which focuses on the needs of women at the vulnerable stage of entry into prison. The Project was set up in October 2000 and is run by the Prisoner Advice and Care Trust. It employs a full-time project worker and two link workers to help identify women at risk of self-harm or suicide. The project sees over 100 prisoners a month and makes referrals to services in and outside the prison on housing needs, mental health problems, drug or alcohol problems. Holloway is also one of the three prisons currently piloting Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), an innovative programme developed for women with `borderline personality disorder' who also self-harm or engage in suicidal behaviours. 20 safer cells are to be installed at Holloway by October 2005. Safer cells, which are manufactured and installed to make the attachment of ligatures very difficult, have been found effective in preventing impulsive suicide attempts. Across the prisons estate, women prisoners are to benefit from a specifically targeted and separate suicide prevention and self-harm management strategy being developed for them. This draws upon specialist knowledge of suicidal behaviour among women prisoners, and builds upon a number of interventions including: individual crisis counselling for women prisoners who self-harm; the continued development and evaluation of DBT; investment and planning to ensure progress on the detoxification strategy in women's prisons; and the introduction of a new training pack for all staff working with women in custody, which includes a module on the health and well-being of women prisoners. £1 million from the Department of Health has been allocated to women's prisons to be spent on the recruitment of psychiatric nurses.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

179693; 422 c1512-4W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Women Health services Prisoners Safety Suicide HMP/YOI Holloway Self-harm Prison accommodation

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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