Church, community groups condemn rise in prisoner suicide rates

Church, faith and community groups have come out in support of the human rights group Black Mental Health UK's (BMH UK) condemnation of the rapid rise in the numbers of prison suicides over the last 12 months.

Government statistics indicate that black prisoners are currently in the system at a rate that is five times higher than that of white prisoners, leading to fears that the latest suicide stats will hit the black community hardest.

"Clearly there are concerns about this and we need to have an ethnic breakdown of exactly who has died in prison in the last 12 months in order to establish current trends," said Lord Herman Ouseley, former Chairman of the Commission For Racial Equality.

"One suicide is one to many and we have seen figures on the over representation of ethnic minorities within prison settings but not been given any answers as to why this is not being addressed."

The Ministry of Justice announcement has revealed that 93 people lost their lives last year and comes in tandem with a statement from The HLPR (Howard League for Penal Reform) which shows that 45 per cent of those who died were either being held on remand, unsentenced or awaiting sentence after conviction.

"It is disturbing to see that half of the people who have lost their lives in these institutions were not actually convicted of any crime but rather were on remand or awaiting sentencing," Rev Paul Grey, New Testament Church of God, Nuneatun branch said.

Penal reformers blamed overcrowding for the increase in deaths. The HM Inspectorate of Prisons thematic review of mental health published last October showed staffing levels in prison mental health care were just one-third of what was needed, said BMH UK. The majority of prisoners with mental health problems were shown to be receiving inadequate care and were being released with the same, or worse, problems, it added.

"It is not conducive to anyone's mental well being to be behind bars, human potential was never meant to be locked away it was meant to released. The current models that are being used are flawed, if they weren't then people staying in the system would not be dying," said Rev Grey.

BMH UK has welcomed prisons minister Maria Eagle's call for an inquiry into the reasons behind the increase and to look into measures to improve security for those suffering from mental health problems.

"An inquiry is welcomed and urgently needed, what we must ensure is that there is appropriate and equal representation of all stakeholders, especially from communities group most adversely effected by this," said Matilda MacAttram, director of BMH UK.

"It is horrifying to think that there has been at least one death every week in 2007 in prison settings. We need an ethnic breakdown of these figures to gauge the extent of the problem so we can establish effective strategies to ensure that these figures come down."

BMH UK brought together church leaders, clinicians, politicians and community activists last month to raise awareness of the three fold increase in the number of deaths of patients under mental health settings in the last 12 months.

The event was joined by Pastor Ade Omooba, co-founder of Coherent and Cohesive Voice, who said, "We have not been aware as we might have been in the past over this issue but it is important for us to ensure that, that we never let people from our community be treated as less than human because then it gives an unwitting license for the services to do the same."