Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many deaths by suicide there have been of people in prison in England and Wales for each year in the last decade.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Self-inflicted deaths are any deaths of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life irrespective of intent. This not only includes suicides, but also accidental deaths as a result of the person's own actions.

Data Sources and Quality:

These figures are derived from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System and the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level.

1 - Deaths in prison custody figures include all deaths of prisoners arising from incidents during prison custody. They include deaths of prisoners while released on temporary license (ROTL) for medical reasons but exclude other types of ROTL where the state has less direct responsibility.

2 - Due to the number of deaths that remain unclassified (awaiting further information) in recent years, and the latest year particularly, caution should be used when comparing with earlier periods.

3 - A proportion of the most recent two years' figures for 'other' deaths are expected to be re-classified as natural causes or self-inflicted deaths.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people took their own life in prison while serving an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence in 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

There were four self-inflicted deaths of those serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection in 2024. This information can be found in Table 1.7 of the 'Safety in custody: quarterly update to September 2024.

Self-inflicted deaths are any deaths of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life irrespective of intent. This not only includes suicides but also accidental deaths as a result of the person’s own actions.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people took their own life in prison while serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection sentence in 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

There were four self-inflicted deaths of those serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection in 2024. This information can be found in Table 1.7 of the 'Safety in custody: quarterly update to September 2024’.

Self-inflicted deaths are any deaths of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life irrespective of intent. This not only includes suicides but also accidental deaths as a result of the person’s own actions.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what records they keep on the number of (1) suicides, and (2) attempted suicides, in prisons in England and Wales; whether, and if so where, those records are published; and how they utilise those records to track health and well-being outcomes in each prison where such records are kept.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The data on self-inflicted deaths and self-harm across the prison estates is recorded in our published Safety in Custody Statistics. The number and rates of deaths and self-harm across the estate is published quarterly in the Safety in Custody Summary Tables, the latest version of which can be found at: Safety-in-custody-summary-q1-2024_final_table.xlsx (live.com).

HMPPS does not produce official statistics on suicides or attempted suicides, because it is not always known whether a person engaging in self-harming behaviour intends or intended to die by suicide. We therefore collect data on self-inflicted deaths (a term that we use to refer to any death of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life irrespective of intent) and on incidents of self-harm.

This national data informs the development of the prison safety programme, and governors use local data to understand their populations and their safety risks and to inform their safety strategies. Each prison holds a regular safety meeting that includes discussion of the local self-harm data and learning from any self-inflicted deaths that have occurred there.

Individuals assessed as at risk of suicide and self-harm are given individualised support through our case management process. This approach places a strong emphasis on having effective care plans in place to record, address and mitigate risks.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of suicides in prison.

Answered by Lord Bellamy

Every death in custody is a tragedy and we continue to do all we can to improve the safety of prisoners.

We know that relationships between staff and prisoners plays an important role in preventing self-inflicted deaths in prisons and that is why we have announced additional investment in our workforce. As of 30 September 2023, there were 23,058 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Band 3-5 prison officers in post, an increase of 1,441 FTE since 30 September 2022. This means staff can provide more support for prisoners and better monitor the risk of harm. In addition to recruiting new officers, we are developing and phasing in a new safety training package for staff. It brings together information on related safety topics, including suicide and self-harm prevention, understanding risks, triggers and protective factors. This training is complemented by a revised version of the case management approach used in prisons to support people at risk of suicide or self-harm.

We will continue to fund the Samaritans (£625,000 each year until March 2025) to deliver the Listener scheme where prisoners are trained to provide emotional support to each other. We have also worked with the Samaritans to design an additional support service for prisons in the period following a self-inflicted death, with the aim of reducing the risk of further deaths.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) suicides and (b) attempted suicides that have taken place in prisons in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021 and (iv) 2022.

Answered by Damian Hinds

The data on self-inflicted deaths is recorded in our published Safety in Custody Statistics.

The number and rates of self-inflicted deaths across the estate in the 12 months to March 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 is published in the Safety in Custody Summary table which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1153227/Safety-in-custody-summary-q4-2022-final-tables.xlsx.

We do not produce official statistics on suicides. Self-inflicted deaths are any death of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life irrespective of intent. This not only includes suicides but also accidental deaths as a result of the person’s own actions. This classification is used because it is not always known whether a person intended to take their own life.

We are unable to answer the question on attempted suicide as we do not record this data.

Found: prevention in England: 5 -year cross -sector strategy , 11 September 2023 15 PQ HL1339 [on Prisoners: Suicide

Found: Homelessness and at risk of homelessness Mental health Domestic abuse Care leavers Prisoners Suicide

Found: Homelessness and at risk of homelessness Mental health Domestic abuse Care leavers Prisoners Suicide

Found: Homelessness and at risk of homelessness Mental health Domestic abuse Care leavers Prisoners Suicide

Found: Homelessness and at risk of homelessness Mental health Domestic abuse Care leavers Prisoners Suicide

Found: and at risk of homelessness Mental health Domestic abuse Care leavers Prisoners Suicide