This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7166763.stm
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Sharp increase in prison suicides | Sharp increase in prison suicides |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| The number of prisoners who killed themselves in jail rose significantly in 2007, according to official figures. | The number of prisoners who killed themselves in jail rose significantly in 2007, according to official figures. |
| The Ministry of Justice has confirmed there were 92 apparent self-inflicted deaths in England and Wales in the same year as a record prison population. | |
| The deaths do not represent a record - but are almost 40% higher than 2006, reversing two years of falls. | |
| The jail population hit a record of more than 81,000 in the summer of 2007 but numbers have now eased slightly. | The jail population hit a record of more than 81,000 in the summer of 2007 but numbers have now eased slightly. |
| According to the Ministry of Justice figures, the number of apparent suicides in jail rose from a low of 67 in 2006 and 78 in 2005. The record number in recent years has been 95 deaths in both 2004 and 2002. | |
| The vast majority, 84, were men and 41 remand prisoners made up the single largest group. Seven under-21 young offenders took their own lives. The youngest of these was a 15-year-old who killed himself in November. | |
| There was a significant rise in the number of foreign prisoners apparently taking their own lives - 23 compared with six the year before. | |
| Four people on indeterminate sentences for public protection and 19 on life sentence were among the deaths. | |
| The figures show that while 92 people killed themselves, more than 100 others were resuscitated after self-harm incidents that would have led to death. | |
| Prisons Minister Maria Eagle said: "I sincerely regret this year's increase in self-inflicted deaths after the significant decreases of recent years. | |
| "Our prisons contain large numbers of very vulnerable people, and caring for them is challenging and vital work. I know that all those involved remain totally committed, and I commend them for that." | |
| Mental health review | |
| The Forum on Preventing Deaths in Custody, a body made up of criminal justice and health experts, warned earlier this year that many deaths were preventable. It correctly predicted that deaths would go up during a year of jail overcrowding. | |
| Ms Eagle said the government was considering the forum's report and had separately launched a review into how prisons deal with offenders with severe mental health problems. | |
| That review, led by former minister Lord Bradley, is looking at how to divert some of these offenders away from prison and will report in the summer. | |
| The prison service says that approximately 130,000 people go through the system every year. Some 1,500 people a day are watched under special measures to cut suicide rates among inmates classed as high risks. | |
| Phil Wheatley, director general of the Prison Service, said: "Staff have continued to make strenuous efforts in this vital area of work in dealing with a challenging and vulnerable prison population. | |
| "The rate of self inflicted deaths had reduced year on year over the previous four years. It is critical that we remain focused in this key area." | |
| Suicides in prison are independently investigated the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. |