Record prison suicides prompts MoJ inquiry

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has launched an internal inquiry into the mental health backgrounds of prisoners who committed suicide.

The inquiry follows new ‘Safety in Custody’ figures which highlighted that 2016 was a record high for self-inflicted deaths across prisons in England and Wales, with incidents of self-harm also predicted to have increased by more than 25 per cent.

The previous highest self inflicted deaths in prisons was in 2004 (96 deaths), with the 2016 figure of 113 a worrying increase in the 89 self-inflicted deaths in 2015.

Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss has recently requested more prison staff to be trained as part of the specialist Tornado anti-riot squads, following the outbreak of eight serious disturbances and riots in the prison system in the last three months.

Official figures obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that the number of incidents requiring the specialist Tornado riot squads to regain control of a prison tripled between 2013 and 2015. The MoJ is yet to release figures for the Tornado squads for 2016.

Truss said: “Since becoming Justice Secretary, I have been clear that the violence, self-harm and deaths in our prisons are too high. I have taken immediate action to stabilise the estate by tackling the drugs, drones and phones that undermine security. We are also investing £100 million annually to boost the frontline by 2,500 officers.

“These are long-standing issues that will not be resolved in weeks or months but our wholescale reforms will lay the groundwork to transform our prisons, reduce reoffending and make our communities safer.”

Discussing the use of Tornado teams, a MoJ spokesperson said: “Tornado teams are not necessarily launched in response to violent incidents. They can be called upon to provide a visible presence when dealing with a large number of prisoners, or when an offender gets onto a roof.

“We have announced a major shake-up of the prison system with 2,500 extra prisons officers and new security measures to tackle drones, phones and drugs and help make prisons places of safety and reform.”