Suicides in the prison estate in England and Wales have risen by almost a quarter in the past year, and self-harm behind bars has also increased.
Ninety-two prisoners killed themselves in the 12 months to September, a 24% increase on the year before, figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) show.
Campaigners said the “appalling” statistics showed the inherent harms of prison and called for a dramatic reduction of the prison population.
This month the prison population reached an all-time high of 88,225. The latest government projections predict a rise to 94,400 prisoners by March 2025 and a figure of between 93,100 and 106,300 by March 2027.
Last week the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, announced a plan to release prisoners up to 18 days early to free up space in prisons, two-thirds of which are officially overcrowded. Many prisoners are now sharing cells designed for one, some of which have no toilets, leaving inmates to defecate in buckets overnight, the Guardian revealed this week.
The latest quarterly statistics on deaths and self-harm in prisons in England and Wales show 304 people died in the 12 months to September.
There were 64,348 self-harm incidents in the 12 months to June 2023, up 21% from the previous 12 months, with an 8% increase in men’s jails and a 65% increase in female establishments.
A statistician from the MoJ said: “The [self-harm] rate is now more than 11 times higher in female establishments. This was driven by a substantial increase in the average number of incidents among those who self-harmed in female establishments, from 11.5 to 17.9, an acceleration in the increasing trend in average number of incidents seen for the last six years. By comparison, the average number of incidents among those who self-harmed in male establishments stayed at 4.1.”
Rosanna Ellul, the policy and parliamentary manager at the campaign group Inquest, said: “These appalling statistics are yet another indictment of our unsafe prison system. Yet while these figures should be a sobering reminder of the inherent harms of prison, the government are determined to expand the prison estate by 20,000 places.
“As the prison population grows, we know the number of preventable deaths in prison will too. Successive governments have failed to properly consider measures to reduce reliance on prisons and, in the process, save lives.
“In the short-term, urgent action is needed to ensure people in prison have access to healthcare and adequate support. In the long term, we need a dramatic reduction of the prison population and more investment in alternatives which prevent harms in our society, rather than cause more harm.”
Katie Hardcastle, a senior research manager at Samaritans, said: “It is deeply concerning that people leaving prison and those with community sentences are six times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. It is clear they need more support and improving follow-on care, combined with mandatory suicide prevention training for all frontline government workers, including probation officers, could genuinely save lives. Suicide can be prevented and this data must act as a wake-up call.”
The MoJ statistics show that prisons have also become more violent, particularly for those working inside jails. In last quarter, to the end of September, the number of assaults on staff increased by 13% to 2,222 incidents.
An MoJ spokesperson said: “The safety of all staff and prisoners is our priority, which is why we ensure the most vulnerable prisoners have access to the round-the-clock care and mental health services. We are working tirelessly to ensure our hardworking staff are protected through our £100m security investment, X-ray body scanners, specialist prison dogs and bodyworn cameras.”
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
