'Some custody deaths preventable'

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The total number of people who died in police cells, jails, approved premises and secure hospitals was calculated for the first time by the Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody.

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

Prison officers should have access to the Police National Computer to help spot people at risk, and more work should be done to help officials to deal with drunks safely, it added.

A spokesman for the organisation said: "The forum believes that some of these deaths could and should have been prevented."

The document said there were 523 deaths in custody in 2006/07 - excluding those in police custody which have yet to be finalised. In 2005/06 there were 586 deaths and in the previous 12 months the figure was 590.

Most of the deaths included in the total were from natural causes. The total for 2004/05 included 389 deaths from natural causes, plus a further 127 self-inflicted deaths.

Forum chairman John Wadham said: "This is the first time anyone has attempted to put these figures together. It is a surprise that the figures have never been produced before.

"The number of deaths in custody is the mark of a civilised society. Six hundred deaths is a very significant figure. I think this is too high and we need to reduce it."

Overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales has coincided with an increase in the number of self-inflicted deaths this year. So far in 2007 there have been 68 cases compared with 46 at this point last year.