§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have died each year since 1970 (a) in police custody and (b) in prison, and if he will give for each year a breakdown of the causes of death.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe number of persons who died in police custody (or otherwise with the police) during the years 1980 to 1985, together with the cause of death, number of inquests, and inquest verdicts are contained in the annual reports of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary—HC 409 (1980), and HC 463 (1981), HC 15 (1982), HC 528 (1983), HC 369 (1984), and HC 437 (1985)—and, for those within the Metropolitan police district, in the annual reports of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (Cmnd. 8254, 8569, 8928, 9268, 9541, 9790). Information for 1986 is not yet available but will be included in the 1986 reports of the Chief Inspector and the Commissioner. Information for the years prior to 1980 was not collected centrally.
The details required in respect of deaths in prison custody in England and Wales are as follows:
70W
Coroner's verdict Year Total Number of deaths Suicide Natural Non-natural 1970 42 (19) 6 31 5 1971 69 (28) 13 46 10 1972 53 (16) 13 36 4 1973 61 (34) 14 43 4 1974 48 (14) 6 34 8
Coroner's verdict Year Total Number of deaths Suicide Natural Non-natural 1975 59 (19) 14 38 7 1976 67 (22) 20 39 8 1977 41 (13) 11 25 5 1978 60 (23) 16 34 10 1979 73 (21) 21 43 9 1980 65 (16) 21 33 11 1981 58 (20) 16 35 7 1982 61 (13) 18 28 15 1983 64 (18) 21 33 10 1984 65 (17) 23 31 11 1985 59 (14) 23 23 13 19861 56 (19) 4 12 6 1Coroners' verdicts have so far been received for only 22 cases in 1986. N.B. The figures in parentheses indicate the number of the total who died in an NITS hospital.