Unfitness to Plead Consultation Responses - Law Commission ...

Remand prisoners (prisoners awaiting trial) have higher rates of neurotic disorder than
sentenced prisoners and women have higher rates than men. ONS suggest that 58 per
cent of men and 75 per cent of women remand prisoners experience significant neurotic
symptoms. The figures are lower for sentenced prisoners, with 39 per cent of men and
62 per cent of women showing some form of neurotic disorder.
Another survey found that 45 per cent of suicides in prisons were by people held on
remand and who were still waiting to go to trial.
Self-harm among prisoners
ONS has found that self-harm during the current prison term, without the intention of
suicide, is just under 10 per cent for female prisoners and just under 6 per cent for
males. The rates reported by remand and sentenced prisoners were similar; however,
two thirds of remand prisoners had been in prison for less than three months compared
with only about a quarter of the sentenced prisoners.
Women represent more than 50 per cent of all self-harm cases in prison. This is
worrying as women represent only 5 per cent of the prison population. The rate of selfharm
is particularly high among women under 21. At two women's prisons they have
reported around 10 cases of self-harm per day.
Between 2004 and 2008, incidents of self-harm in prisons increased by 25 per cent. In
female prisons the increase was 42 per cent in the same period. The total number of
self-harm cases in 2008 was 10,466 for men and 12,560 for women - a total of 23,026.
Attempted suicide among prisoners
ONS has found that a high number of prisoners have tried to take their own lives,
particularly women and remand prisoners. Just under one in four men and nearly two in
five women reported a suicide attempt at some time in their life. In one survey, over a
quarter of female remand prisoners reported attempting suicide in the year before the
interview.
Suicide among prisoners
The suicide rate among prisoners went down from 92 in 2007 to 61 in 2008. However, it
is important to note that this followed a sharp increase in the numbers from 67 in 2006 to
92 in 2007. Although the numbers are going down, the suicide rate for prisoners is still
alarmingly high with 91 suicides per 100,000 in the prison population compared with 8.5
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