UK: Overcrowding leads to increase in prison suicides:
01 January 2003
The Howard League for Penal Reform has claimed that the record rise in the size of the prison population has contributed to the 28% increase in prison suicides recorded in 2002. A total of 94 inmates took their lives in 2002, compared with 73 in the previous year. A further 141 inmates were resuscitated by prison staff. The Howard League noted a large rise in inmate numbers, which had overburdened the system, an increase "which people have paid for with their lives." The prison population rose by 6,840 in 2002, to a record 72,500. In her 2002 Annual Report, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, condemns the "debilitating and chilling effect" of prison overcrowding and notes that:"There can be no doubt that prisons are less safe than they were a year ago, and many are also less decent places." Suicide rates are rising faster than the prison population - 133 for every 100,000 in 2002, compared with 110 for every 100,000 in 2001. Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Prisons; Howard League for Penal Reform, Guardian 31.12.02