HL Deb 19 July 1995 vol 566 cc35-6WA
Baroness David

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many self-inflicted deaths of prisoners were there between 1990 and 1994, and what proportion of these were prisoners on remand.

Baroness Blatch

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter to Baroness David from the Director General of the Prison Service, Mr. Derek Lewis, dated 19/7/95.

Lady Blatch has asked me to reply to your recent Question about self inflicted deaths in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales.

Between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 1994 there were 240 self inflicted deaths in prisons in England and Wales. One hundred and twenty two of these prisoners were on remand at the time of death.

Table 2.5
Receptions1 into Prison Service establishments of untried and convicted unsentenced prisoners: by outcome of court proceedings 2 and sex

1983–93

England and Wales
Males and females Number of persons
Type of prison and disposal 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
Males
Untried prisoners 45,285 49,366 52,032 52,766 56,515 55,009 55,708 50,431 51,997 47,501 50,918
Received under sentence 25,956 28,326 29,932 28,369 29,371 26,320 23,403 21,437 20,816 19,098 19,967
Other outcome 19,329 21,040 22,100 24,397 27,144 28,689 32,305 28,994 31,181 28,403 30,951
Convicted unsentenced prisoners 18,851 17,325 17,360 15,528 17,269 16,222 16,744 19,229 18,828 20,051 28,593
Received under sentence 10,634 9,926 9,929 8,715 9,729 8,656 8,164 8,900 9,559 10,787 16,156
Other outcome 8,217 7,399 7,431 6,813 7,540 7,566 8,580 10,329 9,269 9,264 12,437
All remand prisoners 55,798 58,687 61,035 60,265 63,306 61,494 62,270 56,967 59,422 54,614 59,914
Received under sentence 31,010 32,860 34,297 31,880 32,506 29,064 25,931 24,023 23,919 22,260 24,436
Other outcome 24,788 25,827 26,738 28,385 30,800 32,430 36,339 32,944 35,503 32,354 35,478
Proportion of remand prisoners subsequently received under sentence
All remand 56 56 56 53 51 47 42 42 40 41 41
Untried 57 57 58 54 52 48 42 43 40 40 39
Convicted unsentenced 56 57 57 56 56 53 49 46 51 54 57
Females
Untried prisoners 2,434 2,534 2,686 2,633 2,695 2,867 3,081 2,704 2,679 2,368 2,647
Received under sentence 847 906 996 989 1,005 1,000 904 703 723 686 661
Other outcome 1,587 1,628 1,690 1,644 1,690 1,867 2,177 2,001 1,956 1,682 1,986
Convicted unsentenced prisoners 1,304 1,235 1,163 1,065 1,066 1,058 1,056 1,181 1,099 1,199 1,505
Received under sentence 433 413 426 432 377 383 345 332 391 414 587
Other outcome 871 822' 737 633 689 675 711 849 708 785 918
All remand prisoners 3,290 3,300 3,392 3,222 3,250 3,380 3,635 3,207 3,182 2,937 3,322
Received under sentence 1,096 1,127 1,225 1,192 1,159 1,158 1,053 836 869 819 879
Other outcome 2,194 2,173 2,167 2,030 2,091 2,222 2,582 2,371 2,313 2,118 2,443