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Prisoners: Suicide

Volume 462: debated on Wednesday 11 July 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) male and (b) female prisoners (i) attempted and (ii) committed suicide in each of the last five years. (148409)

There is no definition of what constitutes an attempted suicide, as it is very difficult to measure suicidal intent. The information requested with respect to apparent self-inflicted deaths is contained in the following table:

Number of self-inflicted deaths1

Female

Male

2002

9

86

2003

14

80

2004

13

82

2005

4

74

2006

3

64

1 The Prison Service definition of self-inflicted deaths is broader than the legal definition of suicide and includes all deaths where it appears that a prisoner has acted specifically to take their own life. This inclusive approach is used in part because inquest verdicts are often not available for some years after a death (some 20 per cent. of these deaths will not receive a suicide or open verdict at inquest). Annual numbers may change slightly from time to time as inquest verdicts and other information become available.