§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in(a) prison establishments and (b) police custody have (i) committed and (ii) attempted suicide in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [27446]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility 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 from A. J. Butler to Mr. Elfyn Llwyd, dated 2 May 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about suicides.The attached tables give the number of self-inflicted deaths in Prison Service establishments, in England and Wales (1985–1995); the number of reported incidents of attempted suicides (1991–1995); and the number of suicides in police custody (1985–1995). Numbers of attempted suicides in police custody are not held centrally. Numbers of attempted suicides in prison establishments were not held centrally before 1991.
Number of attempted suicides in prison establishments for the period 1991–95 Number 1991 676 1992 731 1993 818 1994 847 1995 772 594W
Number of self-inflicted deaths in prison establishments for the period 1985–1995 Number 1985 27 1986 21 1987 46 1988 37 1989 48 1990 50 1991 42 1992 42 The court proceedings data given in the table show the number of defendants prosecuted, in England and Wales only, for failing to register with the police, by result, from 1990 to 1994—latest available.
Number of self-inflicted deaths in prison establishments for the period 1985–1995 Number 1993 47 1994 62 1995 60 "Self-inflected" deaths includes deaths where other inquest verdicts, such as "open" and "misadventure" have been recorded.
Number of suicides in police custody for the period 1985–1995 England and Wales (excluding Metropolitan police) Metropolitan police 1985 2 1 1986 2 2 1987 1 1 1988 4 1 1989 3 4 1990 0 3 1991 10 — 1991–921 — 2 1992 3 — 1992–931 — 2 1993 3 — 1993–941 — 1 1994 3 — 1994–951 — 21 The statistics provided represent those deaths whereby the Inquest has been held and the verdict given as "Death due to Suicide". 1 Figures recorded on a financial year basis. 2 Provisional figure.