Concern over prison suicides

12:27am Tuesday 14th August 2007

Comments (1)   Have your say »

New figures today reveal a catalogue of suicide and neglect in overcrowded Sussex jails.

Inmates are dying in custody at a rate of three a year according to the research carried out by The Argus.

A total of nine inmates have committed suicide in Lewes Prison since 2002. Five of those occurred in one year.

A further three prisoners died from natural causes between 2002 and 2007. Two died at Ford Prison.

The figures, obtained by The Argus under the Freedom of Information Act, have been widely condemned and led to new calls for greater protection for prisoners and extra capacity in Sussex jails.

Nick Herbert, Arundel and South Downs MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, said: "Deaths in custody are completely unacceptable and are being exacerbated by overcrowding. We need adequate capacity in our jails and adequate supervision."

A spokesman for Inquest, the campaign group against deaths in custody, said: "We need greater accountability in Sussex jails and far greater protection for inmates.

"One death is a death too many."

A recent report revealed overcrowding at Lewes forced one in three prisoners to share a cell.

The situation was revealed as the category B prison's independent monitoring board released the figures in its annual report, in which it called for the criminal justice minister Baroness Patricia Scotland to address the issue.

At Ford, the open jail near Arundel where there have been 496 absconds in the last five years, fewer deaths have occurred.

One was blamed on natural causes and the other, in 2006, is still being investigated.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "Every death in prison is a terrible tragedy affecting families, staff and other prisoners deeply. Ministers, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and the Prison Service are committed to reducing the number of such tragic incidents.

"Good care and support from staff save many lives, but such instances go largely unreported.

Prisons successfully keep safe in any given month approximately 1,500 prisoners assessed to being at particular risk."

Recent fatalities in jail

• Last month a French prisoner awaiting trial for allegedly making threats to kill was found dead in his cell at Lewes Prison. Aissa Benderdouche, 36, was discovered hanging in his single cell. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has launched an investigation.

• Gareth Russell was found dead in his cell at Lewes Prison on April 24.

Russell, 25, was found hanging in his cell just days after he was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for the manslaughter of Terry Hannaby, 34, following a seven-week trial at Hove Crown Court. His cellmate Simon Wishart, 21, formerly from Eastbourne, has been charged with murder.

• Dafydd Field, 52, from Surrey, who was charged with the murder of his six-year-old son Jethro, was found electrocuted in his cell at Lewes Prison on April 10.

What do you think the Government be doing to tack overcrowding in prisons? Leave your thoughts below.