Research & Reports

UFFC

Deaths in police custody reform, progress update 2021

Police at 10 Downing Street
Image credit http://www.youtube.com

source: GOV.UK
published: 20 July 2021

We are sharing the item below which links to the previous publications on this topic, listed at the end of this article.

The UK Government is committed to delivering meaningful and lasting change to prevent deaths in custody and support families. That is why on 23 July 2015, then Home Secretary Rt Hon Theresa May MP announced a major review of deaths and serious incidents in police custody, focusing on the experience of bereaved families.

This followed the former Home Secretary’s meetings with bereaved families who made clear that the system was not fit for purpose; not only in preventing deaths in police custody,

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4WardEverUK

Self harm cases in women’s prisons reaches record high

Sad woman in hoodiesource: PrisonPhone
published: 23 April 2021

With the effects of COVID-19 it has caused many prisoners to be separated from their families and loved ones even more so than before.

Having more than a year apart from seeing their families on a face to face basis has caused a serious impact on some inmates, seeing a record high in self harming cases across some of the women’s prisons.

Self harm amongst female prisoners has increased rapidly.  A spokesman said “Many women haven’t seen their families in person for over a year, and are confined to their cells for up to 23 hours a day”. The crisis of the Coronavirus has created a number of incidents reaching a record high, new data shows.

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UFFC

Risk factors for suicide in prisons: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Hands behind jail bars

source: The Lancet
published: 9 February 2021

Rates of suicide among people in prison are elevated compared with people of similar age and sex who are living in the community. Improving assessments and interventions to reduce suicide risk requires updated evidence on risk factors. We aimed to examine risk factors associated with suicide in prisoners.

Methods
We did an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of risk factors for suicide among people in prison. We searched five biblographic databases for articles published between Jan 1, 2006, and Aug 13, 2020, and one database for articles published between Jan 1, 1973, and Aug 13, 2020.

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