Following the publication of Lord Carter’s review of prisons, Securing the Future, the proposed building and modernisation programme is aimed to bring overall net capacity of the prison estate to just over 96,000 places by 2014.
The individual projects and the time frame to deliver this capacity are being developed.
(2) how many prisoners committed suicide in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and how many of these suicides occurred in safe cells.
Finding out the number of safer cells installed during the last 10 years would incur disproportionate cost. However, there are to date in excess of 5,000 safer cells installed across the prison estate.
The following table provides figures for apparent self-inflicted deaths in each of the last 10 years. There have been 14 such deaths of prisoners located in safer cells in that time.
Self-inflicted deaths1 Self-inflicted deaths in safer cells1 1998 83 0 1999 91 0 2000 81 0 2001 73 2 2002 95 3 2003 94 3 2004 95 1 2005 78 0 2006 67 4 20072 83 1 Total 840 14 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. 2 To 7 December 2007.
The Prison Service has “safer cells”—no cell can be considered totally “safe”—that can complement a regime providing care of at risk prisoners and reduce risks around impulsive suicide attempts. The use of this type of accommodation should be seen as just one part of the comprehensive suicide prevention strategy. The design of safer cells has several features which can assist staff in the task of managing those at risk from suicide, such as specially designed furniture and fixtures which are manufactured and installed to make the attachment of ligatures very difficult, and access to window bars prevented via-non-opening windows with integral ventilation grills.
(2) pursuant to his oral statement of 5 December 2007, Official Report, columns 827-30, on prisons (Carter Review), how many of the additional 10,500 prison places will be safe cells.
Existing Prison Service guidance, Prison Service Order 2700 Suicide Prevention and Self Harm Management, on the introduction of safer cells states that for new accommodation all cells in category A, category B and local prisons will be fitted with safer cells to the full safer cell specification and 25 per cent. of category C accommodation will be fitted with safer cells to the full specification.
All projects within both the existing 9,500 place programme and the additional programme for 10,500 places are assessed individually in response to local requirements. The individual projects to deliver the new capacity are being developed.