Recommendation 8

HMPPS’ data shows that during 2020, there were 67 self-inflicted deaths in custody, and 58,879 self-harm incidents in the 12 months to September 2020. We heard from HMPPS that while these levels are high, they are showing signs of declining. The situation remains particularly alarming for female prisoners.8 We welcomed HMPPS’ work to set up a taskforce to address issues facing female prisoners directly, including one-to-one counselling and initiatives to maintain family contact. HMPPS recognised that continuing to learn lessons from how it has managed the impact of the pandemic on prisoners’ wellbeing is critical to its long-term work to prioritise and support prisoner mental health. Its commitment to draw on the expertise of others, including the Samaritans and CLINKS, is encouraging.9 It has also committed to bettering its understanding of the number of prison staff attending training specifically focused on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of prisoners.10 A challenging route to pandemic recovery in the court system