Steven Trudgill

On the 24th of May 2016, concluded the inquest into the very sad death of STEVEN

Steven Trudgill was found hanging in his cell at Majesty's Prison Highpoint on the 9th of January 2014. At the time of his death he was on an open ACCT (Assessment; Care in Custody and Teamwork) document He had been remanded into custody at the age of 18 in November 2008, charged with arson with intent to endanger life, was convicted in March 2009 and received an indeterminate sentence for public protection with a minimum period to serve of two years and two months before he could be considered for release_ He had been moved from HMP Blundeston, which was due to close, to HMP Norwich on the g"h of December 2013, and then to HMP Highpoint on the 18th of December 2013_

In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths. It goes without saying that no criticism is implied or intended of Steven's indeterminate sentence itself; and there was also evidence of good quality mental health care having been provided to Steven previously while he was in prison. However; it was clear from evidence given that IPP's have now been stopped, and it is also likely to be the case that there are other potentially vulnerable prisoners like Steven who are still on IPP's within the prison system and at significant risk of continuing self harm after serving their tariff, finding themselves in a system where the Parole Board hearings that provide the only possible means by which they could be released are infrequent; only occurring two or three years: It is also the case that there are complex mental health needs which might actually be the reason for the continuing risk that keeps then in custody, as with Steven, yet the specific treatments are not available within the prison service, notwithstanding good care undoubtedly provided by good practitioners in difficult circumstances To try to reduce the risk of future tragedies and fatalities like Steven's sad death occurring, am writing to you as Prisons Minister to respectfully request that consideration now be given to assessing those prisoners currently still within the prison service on IPP's to see if they actually have mental health needs which would be better ad more appropriately managed within the mental health service rather than the prison service, but within an appropriately secure unit: The aim of this would be to ensure that the appropriate level and form of mental healthcare can be provided to them in the most suitable environment in order to manage their underlying condition and reduce the risk of suicide, reduce future risk to the public and give care that might enable them to be more safely released in future, while still providing current public protection by virtue of the security of the unit