Women's prisons see 97 deaths in 10 years with self-harming rates at record high

Over the past decade 97 women have died in prisons in England and Wales, as incidents of self-harm among female prisoners reach the highest level on record, a new report has found.

- Simon Hattenstone

Inquest, the charity that produced the report, collated Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures since 2015 to arrive at a total number of deaths. It said the numbers were evidence for the closure of all women's prisons.

The deaths analysed by the report include those of Saria Hart, 26, who passed officers two suicide notes before taking her own life; Louisa Boultbee, 49, who suffered from epilepsy and was found unresponsive in her cell following an apparent seizure after two mandatory checks were missed; and Aisha Cleary, a newborn baby whose 18-year-old mother gave birth alone in her cell despite pressing her cell bell twice.

Inquest's director, Deborah Coles, said: "The only certainty is that more deaths will follow unless the government radically changes direction. Rather than more rhetoric, now is the time for political bravery and implementation of tangible steps towards ending women's prisons."

The MoJ called the deaths "a tragic example of how the prison system is not working for most women".

The report comes 17 years after the Corston report that recommended replacing women's prisons with small, secure units after six women

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