Ministers under pressure over record number of prison deaths

Ministers have come under pressure in the Lords to push ahead with prison improvements after a record number of deaths in custody.

Justice minister Lord Faulks said the Government recognised the seriousness of the problem and was taking action to respond.

At question time, he said the use of psychoactive substances by prisoners presented a “ceaseless challenge” to governors.

“We recognise our prison system needs reform. There is much more to do to ensure prisons are places of decency, hope and rehabilitation.”

Liberal Democrat Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames said 2015 saw a record number of deaths in custody, a 20% increase in assaults and a 25% rise in self-harm incidents.

“Those increases were over record figures the previous year,” he told peers.

He said Justice Secretary Michael Gove appeared committed to prison reform, but asked: “Has he been promised the resources to address the causes of these dreadful figures – squalid conditions, overcrowding, under-staffing and prisoners locked for far too long in their cells?”

Lord Faulks said the causes of violence in prisons were “multi-factorial” and included the increasing use of psychoactive substances.

“It is a ceaseless challenge to try and prevent them coming into prison. We are taking steps to make it very difficult for these substances to be thrown over walls or secreted in body parts.”

The minister said a two-year violence reduction project was under way to better understand the causes and strengthen the response.

“Ultimately it may be the best way to reduce violence is to give … much more powers to governors, to give them the necessary tools to reform the way their prisons are run and help rehabilitate offenders.”

Labour’s Baroness Corston said women in prison were responsible for about 50% of self-harm and the number of women who took their own lives in English prisons last year was a record.

“What factors do you think underlie the deterioration in the safety of women in our prisons?” she asked.

Lord Faulks said the female prison population had fallen below 4,000.

The Prime Minister had underlined the importance of finding “alternative ways” of dealing with female offenders, “preferably avoiding sending them to prison altogether” in many cases.

He said the Government was modernising prisons to ensure the best regimes and an environment that “better meets their gender-specific needs”.

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