Prison suicides rise as 600 inmates die in custody every year

An official report has revealed that there were about 600 deaths last year in jails, young offender institutions, police cells and mental health institutions.

The majority were from natural causes but about 200 were self-inflicted.

Although the annual number of suicides had fallen in recent years, so far this year there have been 68 compared with 46 at this point in 2006.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, described the number of suicides as "very disappointing".

"The Prison Service have been working rather well to try and reduce risk and respond better to vulnerable people," she said.

"But the level of overcrowding now is such that a lot of those efforts have been swept away."

Tory justice spokesman Nick Herbert said: "The Government's response to deaths in custody is totally inadequate.

"The Government's own figures show suicides are far more likely in overcrowded jails and that an inadequate number of new prison places will not keep pace with the rising custodial population.

"Three key measures are needed to reduce deaths in custody: adequate capacity, special provision for offenders with mental illness, and early implementation of the Corporate Manslaughter Act in relation to prisons and police cells."

The study by the Forum For Preventing Deaths In Custody, which was set up last year with the aim of reducing such incidents, said that some of the 600 fatalities could have been prevented.

The report said there was a need for a "more robust and joined-up approach" to the way agencies share information about those who may be at risk.

Forum chairman John Wadham said local lessons learned from individual deaths were not being shared across the system.

The document revealed there were 523 deaths in custody in 2006/07 but this figure did not include those in police custody.

In 2005/06, there were 586 deaths and in the previous 12 months the figure was 590.

Miss Lyon said moving inmates from prison to prison was a key factor.

She said: "If you are mentally ill or under stress, you are constantly faced with uncertainty - staff who don't know you, you're further from home, you've got no support systems and you feel like you are in some sort of hell."