2. Memorandum submitted by the Howard
League for Penal Reform
PRISON OVERCROWDING AND SUICIDE
1. SUICIDE IN
PRISON: KEY
POINTS
Two people per week take their own
lives in our prisons; this has almost doubled since the early
1990s;
This is despite the Prison Service
having invested far more time and resources in suicide prevention
work in that time;
Over half of those who take their
own lives are on remand;
Overcrowded local jails suffer from
the greatest number of suicides;
Over half of all suicides since 1
January 2004 took place in a quarter of all jails;
Need also to remember that in addition
to the 95 people who committed suicide in 2004 a further 228 required
resuscitation following a recognised suicide attempt;
There were 17,678 recorded incidents
of self-harm in prisons in 2004 (some of these will have been
from serial self-harmers);
Over half of all prisons are overcrowded;
Overall, in September 2005 the prison
estate was overcrowded to 111% of its capacity; 14 prisons (11
of which operated as local prisons) were overcrowded to over 150%
of capacity, with a further 21 prisons overcrowded to between
125-149% of capacity;
17,200 prisoners were doubled-up
in cells meant for one in August 2005.
2. SUICIDE IN
PRISON: FACTS
AND FIGURES
2005
There have been 64 self-inflicted deaths in
prisons in England and Wales so far this year. 13 of these happened
in the space of a fortnight in June.
Figures collected by the Howard League for Penal
Reform show that the 64 include:
Two children: Gareth Price aged 16
who died at HMYOI Lancaster Farms in January and Sam Elphick aged
17 died at HMYOI Hindley in September.
Five 18 year olds, two 19 year olds
and three 20 year olds.
Therefore 12 out of the 64 were aged
20 or under.
The figures show that:
Over half (53%) of those who took
their own lives were on remand.
Hanging was overwhelmingly (97%)
the most common method used.
19 had been assessed as at particular
risk of self-harm and suicide and were subject to special prison
service monitoring arrangements.
52 were white, nine were black and
two were Asian (Prison Service categories).
The average age at which people took
their own lives was 32.
Recent years
In 2004 95 people took their own lives. HM Chief
Inspector of Prisons has described this as the tip of an iceberg
of distress as, in addition who succeeded in taking their own
lives, 228 attempted suicide to the extent that they required
resuscitation, and there were 17,658 incidents of self-harm (this
figure will include serial self-harmers).
27 children have taken their own lives in penal
custody since 1990. Including: one 14 year old, three 15 year
olds, eight 16 year olds and fifteen 17 year olds.
Three women committed suicide in prison in 1995.
This rose to 13 last year. So far three women have taken their
own lives in prison in 2005.
This table lists the number of suicides in each
year for the last twenty years and the average prison population
for that year:
Year | Number of prison suicides
| Average prison population |
1985 | 29
| 46,234 |
1986 | 21 | 46,769
|
1987 | 46 | 48,425
|
1988 | 37 | 48,872
|
1989 | 48 | 48,500
|
1990 | 58 | 44,975
|
1991 | 42 | 44,809
|
1992 | 41 | 44,718
|
1993 | 47 | 44,552
|
1994 | 62 | 48,621
|
1995 | 59 | 50,962
|
1996 | 64 | 55,281
|
1997 | 68 | 61,114
|
1998 | 83 | 65,298
|
1999 | 92 | 64,771
|
2000 | 81 | 64,603
|
2001 | 72 | 66,301
|
2002 | 95 | 70,778
|
2003 | 94 | 73,038
|
2004 | 95 | 74,658
|
| |
|
The table shows that while the prison population has increased
rapidly the rate of suicide in prison has increased more rapidly
still. For example:
by 2004 the prison population had increased by:
by 2004 the number of people killing themselves in prison had
increased by:
Howard League for Penal Reform 10-year analysis
In July 2005 the Howard League for Penal Reform released
figures which revealed that in the 10-year period 1995-2004 804
men, women and children took their own lives in jails in England
and Wales.
Of these 804:
55% were on remand, despite remandees comprising
only 19% of the prison population.
The following table shows those prisons which experienced
10 or more suicides between 1995 and 2004. The vast majority are
local prisons.
Prison | Number of suicides 1995-2004
| Prison | Number of suicides 1995-2004
|
Manchester | 27
| Hull | 16 |
Leeds | 25 | Blakenhurst
| 16 |
Winchester | 23 | Exeter
| 14 |
Durham | 23 | Woodhill
| 14 |
Norwich | 23 | Belmarsh
| 14 |
Nottingham | 23 | Holme House
| 13 |
Liverpool | 22 | Pentonville
| 13 |
Preston | 21 | High Down
| 12 |
Lewes | 21 | Cardiff
| 11 |
Birmingham | 20 | New Hall
| 11 |
Wandsworth | 17 | Gloucester
| 11 |
Brixton | 17 | Holloway
| 11 |
Leicester | 17 | Aylesbury
| 10 |
Doncaster | 17 | Bullingdon
| 10 |
Bristol | 17 |
| |
| |
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3. SUICIDE RATE
IN PRISON
The suicide rate in prison has been rising as the suicide
rate in the community has been falling. An Oxford University study
published by the Lancet on 15 September 2005 found that:
prisoners are five times more likely to take their
own lives in prison as in the community;
young people are 18 time more likely to commit
suicide in prison than in the community.
As part of the 10 year analysis, the Howard League for Penal
Reform calculated that women were 30 times more likely to take
their lives in prison than in the community.
4. PRISON CONDITIONS
AND SUICIDE
Overcrowding
The massive increase in the prison population in recent years
has caused extreme prison overcrowding. Put simply, overcrowding
means too many prisoners, not enough spaces for them, and not
enough staff to care effectively for each prisoner. Overcrowding
causes prison regimes to be squeezed even further and threatens
the ability of a prison to treat a prisoner with decency and compassion.
Overcrowding and the consequent movement of prisoners around the
estate limits the ability of staff to get to know and develop
personal relationships with prisoners.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights, in its 2004 report on
deaths in custody, emphasised that the overall culture of a prison,
including whether prisoners are treated humanely and with dignity,
can have a significant impact on prisoner distress and vulnerability
to suicide and self-harm.
In her most recent annual report, published on 26 January
2005, the Chief Inspector of Prisons claimed that the levelling
off of the prison population at around 75,000 was "the difference
between a manageable crisis and an unmanageable one". At
the time of publication of her report the operation capacity of
the prison service was put at 78,210. Since then the prison
population has increased by 3,600 to a record 77,702. The
operational capacity has only increased by 1,750. In the last
four weeks the population has increased by 752, the size of a
large prison such as Brixton or Norwich.
Latest Prison Service statistics show that in September 2005:
77 out of 142 prisons were overcrowded.
14 prisonsall local prisonsheld
over 50% more prisoners than they were designed to.
A further 21 prisons held 25%-49% more prisoners
than intended.
Overall a quarter of all prisons were housing
at least 25% more prisoners than they were supposed to.
Figures for August 2005 show that 17,207 prisoners were sharing
cells meant for one person. This is an increase of over 900 since
July 2005.
Prison overcrowding increases prisoner vulnerability and
the current Director General of the Prison Service admitted in
2003 that overcrowding was implicated in the increase in the number
of self-inflicted deaths in prison in recent years.
This table shows those prisons which in September 2005 were
operating at more than 125% of their capacity and the number of
suicides each of those prisons had experienced since 1 January
2004. It shows that out of the 159 suicides in prison since
1 January 2004 90 of them occurred at the 35 currently most overcrowded
prisons. This means that over half of all suicides in prison since
1 January 2004 have occurred in just a quarter of all prisons.
Prison | Number of prisoners current accommodation is designed to hold (In-use Certified Normal Accommodation)
| Number of prisoners actually held |
Capacity rate | Number of suicides between 1 January 2004 and 10 October 2005
|
Preston | 330 |
595 | 180% | 3 |
Shrewsbury | 168 | 302
| 180% | 5 |
Leicester | 206 | 363
| 176% | 5 |
Swansea | 248 | 427
| 172% | 2 |
Dorchester | 147 | 252
| 171% | 1 |
Exeter | 316 | 537
| 170% | 3 |
Wandsworth | 845 | 1,437
| 170% | 4 |
Usk | 150 | 249
| 166% | 0 |
Altcourse | 614 | 1,003
| 163% | 4 |
Lincoln | 307 | 490
| 160% | 2 |
Leeds | 806 | 1,258
| 156% | 4 |
Canterbury | 196 | 305
| 156% | 1 |
Durham | 496 | 748
| 151% | 5 |
Lancaster | 159 | 240
| 151% | 0 |
Reading | 190 | 284
| 149% | 4 |
Bedford | 324 | 480
| 148% | 2 |
Winchester | 476 | 691
| 145% | 0 |
Doncaster | 771 | 1,111
| 144% | 1 |
Cardiff | 524 | 749
| 143% | 0 |
Bristol | 426 | 604
| 142% | 2 |
Gloucester | 214 | 295
| 138% | 7 |
Pentonville | 868 | 1,194
| 138% | 5 |
Hull | 721 | 983
| 136% | 1 |
Northallerton | 152 | 206
| 136% | 0 |
Brixton | 606 | 810
| 134% | 3 |
Chelmsford | 437 | 585
| 134% | 1 |
Cookham Wood | 137 | 184
| 134% | 0 |
Norwich | 587 | 780
| 133% | 7 |
Nottingham | 385 | 513
| 133% | 4 |
Forest Bank | 800 | 1,059
| 132% | 0 |
Elmley | 753 | 988
| 131% | 1 |
Manchester | 954 | 1,249
| 131% | 7 |
Blakenhurst | 821 | 1,058
| 129% | 3 |
Bullingdon | 759 | 965
| 127% | 2 |
Birmingham | 1,121 | 1,408
| 126% | 1 |
Total suicides:
|
| | | |
90 | | |
| |
| |
| | |
The Chief Inspector of Prisons has frequently drawn attention
to the indecent conditions caused by overcrowding and how these
can have a negative impact on prisoner welfare. The impact of
overcrowding is prisoners "doubled-up" two to a small
cell meant for one, and in this confined space they will sleep,
eat, wash-up and use the often unscreened lavatory.
In her report of the inspection of Pentonville prison, published
5 July 2005, the Chief Inspector referred to the problems of overcrowding
and recorded how vulnerable prisoners were being placed in stained
cells infested with cockroaches.
Reception
The sheer number of people being received into local jails
from the courts limits the ability of the prison authorities to
spend sufficient time with each individual prisoner on arrival
at the jail to determine whether they are at risk of suicide or
self-harm.
Instead of being a thorough examination of a prisoner's
welfare, the reception interviews are often cursory and frequently
take place in a corridor with no health care representative present.
This rushed process does nothing to engender a
feeling of prisoner safety.
Bullying
Bullying has been endemic in our prisons, particularly those
housing young offenders and juveniles, and has an insidious effect
on those targeted, causing fear and anxiety and worsening the
prison experience for those already deemed vulnerable to risk
of self-harm or suicide. Efforts to effectively tackle this have
been made by the prison service but the result are patchy.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons reported this year that:
There was a culture of bullying at Liverpool prison
and that 93% of prisoners on a wing holding the most had felt
unsafe.
At The Mount prison 42% of prisoners had felt
unsafe and 25% had been victimised by other prisoners.
Anti-bullying strategies at Stoke Heath and Brinsford
Young Offender Institutes, which are responsible for the welfare
of vulnerable children and young adults, were seriously deficient.
To be effective anti-bullying and violence reduction
strategies have to be incorporated into the culture of the prison.
5. POLICY RESPONSES
Both the Director General of the Prison Service and Home
Office Ministers have spoken of suicide prevention as being one
of their top priorities for the prison system.
The Prison Service is committed to reducing the tragedy of
self-inflicted deaths in prison and has responded with a series
of initiatives under the safer custody umbrella. The Safer Custody
Group, under whose auspices this work takes place, is now part
of the National Offender Management Service.
While the focus on reducing prison suicides is to be applauded
there is a danger of the system focusing on one or two particular
"cures" that may have unintended consequences. For example,
part of the safer cells initiative saw the creation of cell windows
without any ligature points. The consequence of this was that
these windows do not open to allow proper ventilation. Already
distressed prisoners would therefore find themselves in sweltering
cells unable to access fresh air. This has led to disturbances,
such as those that occurred in Nottingham in July 2004.
1st night in custody
The risk of suicide in prison decreases with the length of
time a prisoner serves:
Around 40% of suicides occur within the first
month of being in custody,
The first 24 hours are a particularly crucial
time when around 10% of all suicides take place.
As a response the prison service has sought to develop first
night in custody suites. These aim to provide a smooth and supportive
introduction to the prison. However:
as the Chief Inspector of Prisons reported, despite
housing desperate and severely disturbed women, Brockhill prison
had no 1st night in custody centre;
even when they do exist, there are often insufficient
places for the number of people being sent to prison direct from
the courts, let alone for those being moved from other prisons,
for example as the Governor at Wormwood Scrubs admitted in September
2005.
Suicide and self-harm monitoring procedures
The Prison Service is also moving from the existing suicide
and self-harm monitoring processesthe F2052SHto
the new Assessment, Care in Custody, and Teamwork plan (ACCT).
The F2052SH is being replaced because it is now
felt to be a tick-box exercise, which in practice could be operated
as a system to protect staff rather than prisoners.
The ACCT, which is currently being rolled out
across the prison estate, with the whole prison estate covered
by the end of March 2007 aims to be a less process-driven and
more interactive approach. It aims to build on the notion that
"suicide is everyone's concern".
6. WHAT SHOULD
GOVERNMENT DO
TO REDUCE
SUICIDE AND
SELF-HARM?
The Howard League for Penal Reform believes that:
Individual prison staff do their best in difficult
circumstances to alleviate people's suffering. However, the sheer
numbers of people being sent to custody threaten to overwhelm
their efforts, particularly in local prisons where the majority
of suicides already occur.
If the government is really serious about reducing
suicide and self-harm in prisons, then it needs to take concerted
action now to reduce the numbers entering custody. Particularly
the majority of non-violent, non-dangerous offenders who could
be more appropriately managed on a community sentence, which enables
them to make amends for their crime and encourages them to live
a law abiding life.
Accordingly, the government must talk down sentencing
and make it clear that short prison sentences serve no purpose
other than to create more victims of crime when they are released
from prison.
This is particularly the case with remands to
custody, where over half of all those who kill themselves in prison
are on remand, and 60% of those remanded to custody do not subsequently
receive a custodial sentence.
The government must drastically reduce the number
of mentally ill people languishing inappropriately in our prisons,
by increasing both court diversion schemes and the number of secure
and semi-secure psychiatric beds.
For those that are sent to custody, the prison
authorities need to ensure that first night in custody and induction
programmes are available to all prisoners entering prison and
are of appropriate duration to ensure that prisoners can realistically
benefit from them.
Proper training must also be available to all
staff to allow them to constructively engage with prisoners in
distress. Looking through a cell window every 15 minutes is not
a proper care strategy for those in distress and at risk of suicide
or self harm.
October 2005
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