Twenty men have taken their own lives at the same jail in the space of seven years, the chief inspector of prisons has said.
Peter Clarke said the number of self-inflicted deaths at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes was a “huge concern” as a report described “chronic and substantial” staff shortages.
This month a Woodhill inmate, Taras Nykolyn, 49, died after a fight at the jail. Three men were arrested on suspicion of murder.
Publishing the findings of an inspection carried out in February, Clarke said: “At the time we inspected, eight prisoners had taken their own lives since our previous inspection in 2015 and, staggeringly, 19 prisoners had taken their own lives at the establishment since 2011. Tragically, a few months after this inspection another prisoner was reported to have taken his own life.”
The report says levels of self-harm and violence at the prison had gone up since the previous inspection. In the six months before the latest visit, the jail recorded 314 self-harm incidents, 65 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, 57 assaults on staff and 47 fights.
Clarke said: “Underpinning nearly all the concerns raised in this report, including issues of safety and wellbeing, were chronic staff shortages and inexperience. This led to poor time out of cell, unpredictable daily routines and limited access to activity.”
Out of a full staffing complement of 320 officers, there were 55 vacancies at the time of the inspection and 20% of officers had been in post had less than 12 months’ experience. Inspectors found almost half of the prison’s population were locked in their cells during the working day.
The prisons minister, Rory Stewart, said there were now 55 more officers in post at Woodhill than in October 2016 and an additional 32 were due by the end of November.
He said: “We have taken specific and urgent action to improve recruitment at Woodhill, including giving the governor a greater role in the process and introducing additional pay allowances.”
Michael Spurr, the chief executive of HM Prison and Probation Service, said: “Woodhill manages a complex and vulnerable population and the governor and her staff have worked tirelessly to improve support and care for prisoners, and there were no self-inflicted deaths in 2017. Tragically there has been one self-inflicted death this year, but the prison remains focused on safety and supporting vulnerable men.
“Staffing vacancies have had an impact but we have a strong pipeline of new recruits which will significantly increase staffing in the coming months. This will improve the regime and mean more rehabilitative activity for prisoners.”
HMP Woodhill mainly houses inmates on remand or serving short sentences, but also a small number of category A prisoners. The jail had a population of 626 at the time of the latest inspection.
• In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
