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Prisons: Suicide

Volume 468: debated on Monday 26 November 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many suicide attempts there were in each Welsh prison in each year since 2003. (166179)

There is no definition of what constitutes an attempted suicide, as it is very difficult to measure suicidal intent, and therefore my Department is unable to provide the data requested. However, the following table gives details of all self-harm incidents and apparently self-inflicted deaths in each Welsh prison from 2003 onwards.

Prison

Self-inflicted deaths per prison

Self-harm (SH) incidents per prison1

Total SH incidents

20032

Cardiff

0

56

Parc

0

326

Swansea

1

62

Usk/Prescoed

0

1

Total

445

2004

Cardiff

0

99

Parc

0

251

Swansea

1

33

Usk/Prescoed

0

1

Total

384

2005

Cardiff

1

74

Parc

0

368

Swansea

1

64

Usk/Prescoed

0

1

Total

507

2006

Cardiff

1

96

Parc

1

285

Swansea

0

63

Total

444

20073

Cardiff

1

26

Parc

0

163

Swansea

1

43

Usk/Prescoed

0

1

Total

233

1 It is not possible to measure the number of self harm incidents with absolute precision. The reported numbers of incidents provide useful management information but should not be treated as absolute.

2 A new system for recording self harm was introduced in December 2002 and as a result the total figures for that year are not directly comparable with later years.

3 Year to date figure reported on IRS by 31 October 2007.