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Suicides (Police Cells)

Volume 181: debated on Wednesday 21 November 1990

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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many self-inflicted deaths, suicides and attempted suicides took place among prisoners held in police cells in 1988, 1989 and 1990 to date.

The number of deaths which occurred in police custody, together with brief details of the circumstances surrounding each case, are contained in the annual reports of Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary and the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. The number of cases in which the coroner's inquest has returned a verdict of suicide is as follows:

Number
19885
19895
199011
1 A number of inquests have yet to be concluded.
Other self-inflicted deaths are not categorised separately and no details of attempted suicides are recorded centrally.