Chronic overcrowding and staff shortages have been blamed for prison suicides reaching an all-time high in 2016. The prison reform charity, the Howard League for Penal Reform, has reported 102 known suicides this year, which is the highest figure since records began in 1978 (when just 18 were recorded).

The previous highest figure was 94 in 2004, but these most recent figures were released with an accompanying comment referring to a “toxic mix of violence, death and human misery”, amid fears that the figures could indeed get worse.

Prison populations have risen by approximately 10% since 2004, so the overall suicide rate is actually lower now than it was twelve years ago. Even taking this into account, with one suicide for roughly every 840 prisoners (one every three days), this startling statistic is beginning to cause increasing alarm.

The fear is that prison populations are growing unchecked while staff levels are reducing, and as a result inmates are now spending up to 23 hours per day locked in their cells. This resulting isolation, away from stimulating conversation or distraction, is likely to affect those vulnerable inmates whose mental state is already fragile.
This has prompted suggestions that some suicides should be viewed as a ‘cry for
help,’ with critics pointing to continuing failings in standards of care- and important lessons not being learnt.

Levels of drug misuse in prisons are also felt to be a factor, with incidents of self-harming a definite link to drug use and subsequent suicides. In September, inspectors at Bedford prison reported that 14% of inmates had developed drug problems whilst inside, compared to 4% in 2014.

The ‘Incentives and Earned Privileges’ scheme,  designed to boost morale and personal behaviour, is in many cases actually blamed for the creation of a negative atmosphere inside prisons. It is common for some inmates to struggle with limitations being imposed on family contact, physical activity and access to money and possessions and hence, a scheme designed to help an inmate’s mental health can actually make it worse.

The figures are released at a particularly bad time for the Prison Service, following a month featuring several high p
rofile blows. 10,000 prison officers staged a 24-hour walkout last month, protesting over safety fears and a “surge in violence” being experienced in UK prisons., while early November saw £1million worth of damage caused during a six-hour riot at Bedford prison involving 200 inmates. Two escapees were subsequently apprehended after jumping the walls of London’s Pentonville Prison last month, with the resultant media coverage causing further embarrassment for the Service.

While a concern exists that these figures could grow higher in reality, particularly with Christmas approaching, when incidents of suicide and self-harming tend to increase, the Government has acted to address the situation to some extent. Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss has announced a recruitment drive involving 2,500 new prison officers across the UK, and special measures to be implemented to help vulnerable and mentally ill inmates.

It is clear that dramatic action is required to h
alt the worrying trend of not only incidents of prison suicide, but also the slide into drug use and violence in prisons. Increasingly it appears that recruitment needs to involve not simply sheer numbers to control security, but also specialist help to get to the root of inmates’ mental health issues in order that they may be overcome.

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