Prisons: Child Suicides

Lord Sheldon Excerpts

Monday 29th July 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Sheldon]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of suicides of children in prisons.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to reducing self-inflicted deaths of children in prison. Since the tragic deaths of three children in 2011-12, the National Offender Management Service has established a working group to extract and disseminate the learning to prevent further deaths. Additionally, a review of the assessment, care in custody and teamwork procedures for young people is being undertaken.

[Lord Sheldon]

The actual task is down to the mothers. The mothers should really not take the children to prisons; that is the task.

[Lord McNally]

I am not sure how that links to the Question on the Order Paper. If the noble Lord is asking about mother and baby units, I can try to give an answer on that. However, the Question was about the number of suicides of children in prison. That is what I was responding to.

Prisons: Suicide

Lord Sheldon Excerpts

Monday 25th March 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Sheldon]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have committed suicide in prisons since January 2000.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

My Lords, the figures we hold on suicide are classified within the data on self-inflicted deaths. There were 960 self-inflicted deaths in prison custody between January 2000 and September 2012. Annual numbers have reduced from 92 per year in 2007 to 57 in 2011.

[Lord Sheldon]

My Lords, by last week there had been 982 suicides since 2000, including 15 children under the age of 18. Staff in prisons try to reduce those deaths but suicides continue.

[Lord McNally]

My Lords, inevitably it is true that suicides continue. But there has also been a concerted effort by the prison authorities and those with responsibility for the youth estate to try to avoid as far as possible these dreadful circumstances—dreadful for the prison staff who have to deal with them and dreadful for the families who have lost loved ones. The noble Lord makes the point that suicides continue. I would say that that is against a background of great efforts by the authorities to try to continue the welcome reduction of recent years.

Justice: Sentencing of Young Offenders

Lord Sheldon Excerpts

Monday 11th June 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Sheldon]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to avoid the unnecessary sentencing of young offenders.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

My Lords, the Government are introducing reforms to give professionals greater flexibility to resolve offences without the need for prosecution, if this is in the public interest. However, robust community sentences, and where necessary custodial sentences, will continue to be used for the most serious and prolific young offenders.

[Lord Sheldon]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply, because it is rather useful. However, there is one problem in avoiding any unnecessary sentencing of young offenders: the age of criminal responsibility, which is 10 years in England but 15 years in Nordic countries, so there is a big difference there. There has also been a United Kingdom-wide financial programme to help young people to fulfil their potential. Will this programme be used to help the young offenders?

[Lord McNally]

My Lords, first, on the question of the age of criminal responsibility, the argument that has been put forward by successive Governments is that keeping it at 10 allows the support services to intervene early and positively with young offenders who have committed serious offences. I think the Scots have already moved or are about to move to 12, and, as the noble Lord rightly said, other parts of Europe have higher ages. All I can say is that at the moment, as with our predecessors, Her Majesty’s Government have no plans to review that minimum age—for that reason of intervention.

On the question of help for young offenders, again, following on from the progress made by our predecessors, we are trying early intervention to help to identify the problems behind some of the offences, and that will certainly continue.

Prisons and Young Offender Institutions: Education and Training

Lord Sheldon Excerpts

Monday 28th February 2011 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Sheldon]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what arrangements are in place to provide education and training for those in prisons and young offender institutions.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

My Lords, the Government believe strongly in giving offenders the skills and training they need to get and keep jobs. That reduces their likelihood of reoffending and is of clear benefit to society. A review into the efficiency and effectiveness of offender learning led jointly by DBIS and the MoJ is nearing completion and will report shortly.

[Lord Sheldon]

My Lords, I look forward to that response in due course. Is it not clear that education and training can reduce prison overcrowding, and that those who have not had proper education and training are three times more likely to be convicted? The overcrowding in prisons limits valuable education and training, so what action will be taken to reduce that overcrowding?

[Lord McNally]

The noble Lord will know that it is our intention to try to bring down the prison population in the next few years, partly by following his line of argument: that if there is a proper rehabilitation strategy for prisoners, they are likely not to reoffend, which will take the pressure off the prison population.

Prisoners: Diet

Lord Sheldon Excerpts

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Sheldon]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that prisoners receive a healthy diet and are treated reasonably.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

My Lords, prisoners are provided with three meals a day and can choose from a multichoice, preselected menu system which is compiled to cover a minimum of four weeks. This menu format takes account of seasonal variations and prisoner preference and is capable of meeting different dietary requirements, such as religious, cultural, medical and lifestyle needs.

[Lord Sheldon]

I thank the Minister for that reply. Each of the 85,000 people in our prisons costs £38,000 a year, with as many as seven out of 10 offenders who have been in prison ending up in prison once again. Short-term sentences often bring moderate offenders into long-term crimes. Those who start a probation rather than imprisonment limit the increasing rise in the prison population. Should not the Government support Ken Clarke MP in limiting the increasing rise in prison population?

[Lord McNally]

I warmly endorse the noble Lord’s last comment, and hope that all noble Lords will take home for their Christmas reading the Green Paper which my department has published. However, welcome as his point was, it was a little far from the Question. I shall just say that the amount that we spend per day on prisoner meals is £2.20.