News

The findings from the Independent Monitoring Board’s annual report are a stark reminder of the serious risks to the life of those held in our closed institutions. The report, published today, finds that the ongoing prison capacity crisis and staffing challenges are causing “tremendous strain”, including on the prison service’s ability to safeguard prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm.

The Government’s recent announcements of emergency measures to tackle prison overcrowding – Operation Early Dawn and the extension of the End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) scheme – demonstrate the severity of the enduring capacity crisis.

We are deeply concerned by the troubling increase in self-harm across the prison estate.

We have today published our latest statistical analysis of deaths in custody which finds that people in state detention are at a significantly increased risk of death compared with the general population, with the rates of deaths in prisons and Mental Health Act (MHA) detention particularly high.

The latest data on deaths of patients under the Mental Health Act (MHA) show 264 people sadly died in detention, with the numbers of those who die by suicide and by so-called ‘natural causes’ remaining concerningly high.

Today we are publishing our workplan which sets out our priorities for 2024/25. We have committed to driving forward a number of key projects – spanning all the main areas of state detention – with the central aim of preventing both natural and self-inflicted deaths.

In January, the IAPDC and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) hosted a roundtable event on the prevention of suicide following police custody.

We welcome calls from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) for improvements in prison healthcare in a new report published today.

The IAPDC recently submitted evidence to the Home Office’s review of investigations following police use of force and driving related incidents.

The Secretary of State for Justice has appointed Professor Seena Fazel as a member of the IAPDC for three years from October 2023.