Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department has had with the Department of Health on the rate of people taking their own lives in prisons.

Andrew Selous

Every death in custody is a tragedy, and we are committed to reducing the rate of self-inflicted deaths in prisons.

My department works closely with the Department of Health on measures to reduce suicide in prisons and in the wider community. Both the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Care Quality and I are members of the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody, which also includes the Minister for Policing, Crime and Criminal Justice and Victims, senior officials from our respective departments and a range of stakeholders. There was a detailed discussion of the recent data on self-inflicted deaths in prisons at the most recent meeting of the Board on 21 October and further consideration of this topic is planned at the February meeting.

Healthcare staff in prisons play an important role in the identification and management of prisoners at risk of self-harm and suicide. Commissioners and providers of healthcare services are active partners with the National Offender Management Service in its work to prevent self-inflicted deaths in prisons.