 The Prison Service has begun an inquiry into the latest suicide |
Campaigners have called for an independent inquiry at a women's jail where five inmates have committed suicide in the past 10 months. Styal Prison, near Wilmslow, Cheshire, has one of the worst records for suicides, according to the Howard League for Penal Reform.
The last inmate to commit suicide - 41-year-old Hayley Williams - was found hanged in a cell by staff on Wednesday.
Campaigners say a prison service inquiry into her death is "not good enough".
The Howard League said it believed conditions inside the jail - such as bullying, drugs and overcrowding - could be to blame.
 It is not good enough for the Prison Service to be investigating itself  Claire McCarthy, Howard League for Penal Reform |
Claire McCarthy, policy and campaigns officer, said: "We are very concerned about the situation at Styal and across the rest of the country. "It is not good enough for the Prison Service to be investigating itself.
"We think an independent inquiry should be held and the results made public."
Ms McCarthy added that the high turnover rate at Styal prison was also likely to be a contributory factor in the number of suicides.
A team of women's estate experts have been into Styal... to examine the suicides at the prison |
She said the prison, which takes recently convicted and remand prisoners, replaced half of its population roughly every two months. She said: "There's very little opportunity for prisoners to form relationships and make friends and for the staff to get to know them.
"For staff to spot someone feeling suicidal they need to form a relationship with them or get to know them."
'NHS funding'
A Home Office spokesman said an expert had been appointed to study suicides in women's prisons in order to lower future risk and the management of such prisons was also being "overhauled".
He added: "On HMP Styal specifically, a team of women's estate experts have been into Styal, in a supportive and consultative role, to examine the suicides at the prison.
"The Area Manager has agreed a project, put forward by the prison, to redesign and rework the way that the remand wing operates.
"The prison has received �200,000 to recruit staff to work in the wing.
"Styal has now received NHS funding for detoxification, a particular necessity in the female estate where a high percentage of receptions are poly-drug users."
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
