Charity director warns ‘more deaths will follow’ unless government changes tack and closes women’s prisons
Over the past decade 97 women have died in prisons in England and Wales and incidents of self-harm among female prisoners have reached the highest level on record, a report has found.
Inquest, the charity that produced the report, collated Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures since 2015 to arrive at a total number of deaths. It said the numbers were evidence for its case that all women’s prisons should be closed.
The deaths analysed by the report include those of Saria Hart, 26, who passed officers two suicide notes before taking her own life; Louisa Boultbee, 49, who had epilepsy and was found unresponsive in her cell after an apparent seizure, with two mandatory checks having been missed; and Aisha Cleary, a newborn baby whose 18-year-old mother gave birth alone in her cell despite pressing her cell bell twice.
Inquest’s director, Deborah Coles, said: “The only certainty is that more deaths will follow unless the government radically changes direction. Rather than more rhetoric, now is the time for political bravery and implementation of tangible steps towards ending women’s prisons.”
