News
DEATHS IN PRISON HIT RECORD LEVELS
LAST YEAR SAW A RECORD 354 DEATHS IN PRISON CUSTODY, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice – an increase of nearly 100 from the previous year. Almost 120 were self-inflicted deaths, including 12 women, while three were homicides.
The rate of prison suicides has now doubled since 2012, says the document, while self-harm incidents also increased by nearly 7,000 to a record high of 37,784. Assault incidents were also up by more than 30 per cent, to another record high of 25,049 – almost 3,400 of which were classed as serious. Assaults on staff increased by 40 per cent, to almost 6,500, while prisoner-on-prisoner violence was up by 28 per cent to more than 18,500 incidents. Serious assaults on staff have trebled since 2012.
Responding to the statistics, justice secretary Liz Truss said that the government had taken action to‘ stabilise the estate by tackling the drugs, drones and phones that undermine security. These are long-standing issues that will not be resolved in weeks or months, but our wholescale reforms will lay the groundwork to transform our prisons, reduce reoffending and make our communities safer.’
‘ It is official – more people died in prisons in 2016 than in any other year on record, and more prisoners died by suicide than ever before,’ said chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, Frances Crook.‘ No one should be so desperate while in the care of the state that they take their own life, and yet every three days a family is told that a loved one has died behind bars. Cutting staff and prison budgets while allowing the number of people behind bars to grow unchecked has created a toxic mix of violence, death and human misery.’
Safety in custody statistics bulletin, England and Wales, deaths in prison custody to December 2016, assaults and self-harm to September 2016 at www. gov. uk
See feature, page 19
Deaths per 1,000 prisoners by apparent cause, 12 months ending December 2000 to 12 months ending September 2016, England and Wales
HARD TIME
A COMPREHENSIVE 26-COUNTRY STUDY of drug trafficking laws has been published by EMCDDA. Drug trafficking penalties across the European Union looks at the national laws regarding the trafficking of cannabis, amphetamine, cocaine and heroin, along with expected sentences and the time likely to be spent in prison. Document at www. emcdda. europa. eu
FINAL COMMUTE
BARACK OBAMA marked the end of his presidency by commuting the sentences of 330 prisoners, bringing the total number of commutations granted to more than 1,700.‘ The vast majority of these men and women are serving unduly long sentences for drug crimes,’ said a White House statement.
SCANDALOUS STATISTICS
THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE SLEEPING ROUGH in England has increased by 16 per cent in a year, according to government figures – the sixth annual increase in a row. The autumn 2016 figure was 4,134 rough sleepers, says DCLG, compared to 3,569 in autumn 2015, based on a‘ single night snapshot’ of street counts and‘ intelligence-driven estimates’ from local agencies. The statistics are seen by many as an underestimate, however, with the most recent figures from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network( CHAIN) putting the total number of people seen sleeping rough by outreach workers in London alone during 2015-16 at more than 8,000. St Mungo’ s chief executive Howard Sinclair said the figures were‘ nothing short of a scandal’, while Crisis chief executive Jon Sparkes said numbers were rising at an‘ appalling’ rate.
CRIMINAL SITUATION
THE MORTALITY RATE FOR PRISONERS is 50 per cent higher than for the general population, according to a report from the Revolving Doors charity in partnership with PHE, NHS England and the Home Office. The criminal justice system is‘ uniquely placed’ to tackle substance misuse and break the cycle of reoffending, it says, but adds that those in contact with the system may be the bearers of‘ multiple stig- matising labels’ that act as a barrier to accessing or engaging with healthcare. PHE has also published guidance on delivering programmes to reduce TB in‘ under-served’ populations such as people with substance misuse problems. Rebalancing act at www. revolvingdoors. org. uk; Tackling tuberculosis in underserved populations at www. gov. uk
‘ Young people do not develop substance problems in isolation.’
Rosanna o’ ConnoR
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
AROUND SIX PER CENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE SEEKING ALCOHOL OR DRUG TREATMENT REPORT HAVING BEEN THE VICTIMS OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION, according to a PHE-commissioned review of young people’ s treatment services by the Children’ s Society. The figure is far higher among girls, at 14 per cent, than boys, at 1 per cent. A quarter of females starting treatment in 2015-16 reported having mental health problems, along with 15 per cent of males, while 33 per cent of females and 9 per cent of males reported having selfharmed.
Meanwhile, annual NDTMS figures show that the number of young people seeking help for substance issues has fallen to 17,000 from its peak of 24,000 just under a decade ago. While the drop in numbers was encouraging, it was important to‘ look behind the headline’ and remember that young people did not develop substance problems in isolation, said PHE’ s director of alcohol, drugs and tobacco, Rosanna O’ Connor.
Specialist substance misuse services for young people and Young people’ s statistics from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System( NDTMS) at www. gov. uk
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