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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals committed suicide whilst in custody in England and Wales in each of the last five years. [155386] Paul Goggins: The information requested with respect to prisons and immigration removal centres is provided in the following table: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number of self-inflicted deaths1 of Number of self- inflicted deaths of foreign nationals in prison custody foreign nationals in immigration removal centres 1999 7 0 2000 5 1 2001 5 0 2002 10 0 2003 8 21 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 The Prison Service employs the term `self-inflicted death' rather than suicide. This includes all those deaths where it appears the prisoner has acted intentionally to take his/her own life. 2 This death occurred at HM Immigration Removal Centre Haslar, a Prison Service managed centre. The police do not collate data centrally on the number of foreign nationals who commit suicide in their custody. Reducing the number of self-inflicted deaths in prison establishments is an essential part of the Prison Service's decency agenda and a priority for Ministers. A three- year strategy to develop policies and practices to prevent prisoner suicide and manage self-harm started in April 2001. This is currently under review, taking into account learning from the various projects initiated over the last three years, emerging research findings and a wide consultation process. The main principles of the strategy apply across all types of prisons and to all prisoners, regardless of nationality. All immigration removal centres are required to comply with an Operating Standard on suicide and self- harm prevention, and a range of measures is in place to address the issue. These measures include: suicide awareness and emergency first aid training for staff, active Suicide Prevention Committees operating in all centres, and systems for paying particular attention to detainees on their first night in detention or immediately prior to their removal. The police have also undertaken a number of initiatives to prevent self-inflicted deaths in their custody. These include: custody officer training in risk assessment and management, improvements in police practice in relation to the mentally ill, an increase in the range of custody healthcare professionals, improvements in procedures to assess and document specific risks presented by those coming into custody, the use of closed circuit television in cells, and the use in some forces of life signs monitoring systems.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

418 c723-4W;418 c751W; 155386

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Foreign nationals Prisoners Prisons Suicide Self-harm

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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