By Kate Bissell BBC Radio Five Live

Last year, 14 women died in English and Welsh prisons

Holloway Prison in London, with 385 inmates, is the largest women's prison in Europe, and as many as 52 agency nurses are operating a suicide watch at any one time.

Corridors were cleared of prisoners as we entered the Mental Health Care Unit, where the most vulnerable female prisoners are detained.

Many are on 24-hour watch, nurses constantly checking them to ensure they don't harm themselves.

Horror stories

Keys rattle, heavy metal doors slam and women shout to attract our attention - they want to tell us their stories.

Caroline claims that she has made 50 attempts at suicide in the past four months.

I've tried electrocution, I've tried hanging, tying, overdose, everything since I've been in here Holloway inmate Caroline Holloway: Screams and suicide

On the morning of our visit she had tied a torn sheet round her neck. The nurse spotted her and pulled the alarm. Her legs are scratched and scarred from previous self-harm incidents.

"I've been told sooner or later I will probably succeed but I just can't bear being here. I've tried everything. I've tried electrocution, I've tried hanging, tying, overdose, everything since I've been in here," she said.

Caroline is one of 20 women under observation. Suicide attempts are made on a daily basis and two prisoners have died inside Holloway this year.

'Crisis'

In 2003, 14 women died behind bars in England and Wales. So far this year 11 women have been found dead.

In July, Rebecca Turner and Marie Walsh died within 36 hours of each other at New Hall Prison near Wakefield.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers told the Five Live Report that she is concerned that the prison system is in crisis - one prison had reported 129 incidents of self-harm in a month.

She said that too many vulnerable people are being jailed in a system that is unable to cope with their complex needs.

When a death happens in your prison you do feel like you have failed Holloway governor Tony Hassall

Just this week it was reported that 14 men had died inside prison in August - the highest number since records began.

The number of women who have died is of particular concern, according to Ms Owers.

"Women in prison are 14 times more likely than men to self-harm, just as they're more likely than men to commit suicide," she said.

"When we were in one prison recently, they were opening 75 suicide watch forms a month. They had 129 self-harm incidents in a month."

Treatment

Many of the women admitted to prisons like Holloway are dependent on drugs and suffer from mental health issues.

Critics such as Frances Crook from the Howard League for Penal Reform believe that many prisoners that kill themselves would still be alive if they were treated outside of the prison system.

"Prisons are overcrowded. The staff are under-trained and over-stretched. The buildings are often dilapidated. The regime is meagre. Women are away from their often very small children," Ms Crook said.

The staff I met at Holloway save lives on a daily basis.

Dealing with suicide attempts and incidents of self-harm take up time and stretch their resources. Prison officers need specialist training to deal with vulnerable women.

Tony Hassall has been governor of Holloway for a few months. He has experienced the emotional upheaval of prisoners dying in his care and accepts that it is impossible to monitor all of the prisoners all of the time.

"When a death happens in your prison you do feel like you have failed. It's a tragedy for friends and family as well as the prison staff. It's a very difficult and emotional time," he said.