Jo Stevens MP, Labour’s Shadow Prisons and Probation Minister, responding to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’ bulletin on prisoner suicide risk during early days and weeks in custody, said:
“This report is the third warning the Tory Government has had on prison suicides from the PPO in as many years. It’s time the Conservatives woke up and took action.
“Under the Tories prisons have become overcrowded, understaffed and violent, and the deeply troubling rise in suicides in prisons is an issue that David Cameron must tackle immediately.
“It is vital that prison staff are aware of risk factors and able to act on them early so it is worrying that it is too often still not the case. Ministers must urgently give mental health the priority it deserves.”
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