Number of suicides and suicide rates by sex and age in England and Wales. Includes information on conclusion type, the proportion of suicides by method, and the median registration delay.

In England and Wales, the definition of suicide is a death with an underlying cause of intentional self-harm or an injury or poisoning with undetermined intent. In 2023, the suicide rate in England and Wales was 11.4 deaths per 100,000 population, an increase from the previous year. Vulnerable groupsThe suicide rate among men in England and Wales in 2023 was over three times higher than for women, the figures being 17.4 per 100,000 population for men compared to 5.7 for women. Additionally, the age group with the highest rate of suicide was for those aged 50 to 54 years, at 16 deaths per 100,000. Mental health in the UKOver 54 thousand people in England were detained under the Mental Health Act in the period 2020/21. Alongside this, there has been an increase in the number of workers in Great Britain suffering from stress, depression or anxiety. Resulting in 875 thousand workers reporting to be suffering from these work-related issues in 2022/23.

This statistic shows the rate of self-inflicted female deaths during prison custody per 1,000 prisoners in England and Wales from 2010 to 2019. Between 2015 and 2016 the source reported a significant rise in self-inflicted deaths, with more than * female prisoners per 1,000 prisoners having died due to self-inflicted causes.

This statistic shows the number of self-inflicted deaths among prisoners in custody in England and Wales in 2019, by nationality type. The highest number of such deaths was among UK nationals. It should of course be noted that there were more UK nationals as prisoners at this time than any other nationality type.

This statistic depicts the rate of self-inflicted male deaths during prison custody per 1,000 prisoners in England and Wales from 2010 to 2019. According to the source, * per 1,000 prisoners died due to self-inflicted causes in 2019.

This statistic shows a distribution of hanging/self-strangulation self-inflicted deaths among prisoners in custody in England and Wales in 2019, by ligature used. The majority of such suicides were enabled by the use of bedding materials.

Mortality from leading causes of death by ethnic group, England and Wales, 2012 to 2019.

Analysis of the risk of suicide and drug-related deaths among prisoners, including the number of deaths, standarised mortality ratios and age-standardised rates, England and Wales, 2008 to 2019.

In 2019 in Great Britain, euthanasia and assisted suicide remains illegal in the country. In spite of this, ** percent of the British public believe that assisting a terminal patient to end their life does not violate a doctor's oath to not harm their patient, while healthcare professionals are less likely to believe assisted suicided does not break this oath.

A 2019 survey carried out in Great Britain shows majority support for the NHS to be allowed to assist in helping someone end their life. Despite assisted suicide and euthanasia currently being illegal in Great Britain, ** percent of British adults and ** percent of British healthcare professionals believe that the NHS should be able to assist someone who wants to end their life due to a terminal illness or extreme pain.

This statistic shows the number of self-inflicted deaths among prisoners in custody in England and Wales in 2019, by sentence type. The highest number of deaths was among prisoners sentenced to over four years, with ** registered deaths. The second highest number of deaths were among prisoners who were imprisoned for between *** and four years.

This dataset comprises 752 participant records of autistic, possibly autistic and non-autistic people who were invited via online survey to complete measures of thwarted belonging and perceived burdensomeness (the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire-10), suicidal capability (the Acquired Capability for Suicide Scale-Fearlessness About Death), lifetime trauma (the Vulnerabilities Experience Quotient), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7) and depression (Patient Healthcare Questionnaire-9) with demographic data including age, gender identity, living and employment status, other neurodevelopmental conditions and mental health difficulties.

Autistic adults die more often by suicide than people who are not autistic and there is an absence of effective support for autistic people who experience suicidal thoughts and behaviours. One limiting factor is a lack of theoretically driven research to provide detailed insight into mechanisms driving suicide amongst autistic people. One research priority identified by the autism community is to explore the extent to which existing models of suicide describe the experiences of autistic people. Thus, this set of studies aims to explore this with reference to the most widely cited suicide theory, the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (Joiner 2005).

This is qualitative data from a focus group conducted in September 2020 within a study that examined how the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (seek to) effect change in prisons following prisoner suicides and how death investigations could have more impact on prison policy and practice. The study ran from 2019-2021.

Within this project, a focus group was conducted with former prisoners in England and Wales (n=5):

Across jurisdictions, prisoner suicide rates consistently exceed those amongst comparable groups in the general population (Zhong et al., 2021). Deaths in coercive institutions threaten the right to life, which is ‘the most fundamental of all human rights [and a] condition of the enjoyment of other rights’ (Owen and Macdonald, 2015: 121). The high rates of suicide and self-harm in prison are of international concern (Dear, 2006). Prison suicide reduction has been designated a priority activity by the World Health Organisation (2007) and England and Wales’ Ministry of Justice (2016). generating very significant harm and costs (Roulston et al., 2021; Author, 2021). Peer support is part of the (international) response to suicidal prisoners, but too little is known about the experience of these interventions.

For data storage and analysis purposes the transcript has been carefully anonymised with any potentially identifiable details removed. Within the transcript the 5 former prisoners have deliberately not been differentiated between to protect their identity. Because of the sensitivity of this research, transcripts of follow up support and analysis groups have been omitted due to the participants still being identifiable following transcript anonymisation.

Further information about the project and links to publications are available on the University of Nottingham SafeSoc project webpage https://www.safesoc.co.uk

In May 2019, Dutch courts refused to deport an English suspected drug smuggler, citing the potential for inhuman and degrading treatment at HMP Liverpool. This well publicised judgment illustrates the necessity of my FLF: reconceptualising prison regulation, for safer societies. It seeks to save lives and money, and reduce criminal reoffending.

Over 10.74 million people are imprisoned globally. The growing transnational significance of detention regulation was signalled by the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture/OPCAT. Its 89 signatories, including the UK, must regularly examine treatment and conditions. The quality of prison life affects criminal reoffending rates, so the consequences of unsafe prisons are absorbed by our societies. Prison regulation is more urgent than ever. England and Wales' prisons are now less safe than at any point in recorded history, containing almost 83,000 prisoners: virtually all of whom will be released at some point. In 2016, record prison suicides harmed prisoners, staff and bereaved families, draining ~£385 million from public funds. Record prisoner self-harm was seen in 2017, then again in 2018. Criminal reoffending costs £15 billion annually. Deteriorating prison safety poses a major moral, social, economic and public health threat, attracting growing recognition.

Reconceptualising prison regulation is a difficult multidisciplinary challenge. Regulation includes any activity seeking to steer events in prisons. Effective prison regulation demands academic innovation and sustained collaboration and implementation with practitioners from different sectors (e.g. public, voluntary), regulators, policymakers, and prisoners: from local to (trans)national levels. Citizen participation has become central to realising more democratic, sustainable public services but is not well integrated across theory-policy-practice. I will coproduce prison regulation with partners, including the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, voluntary organisations Safe Ground and the Prison Reform Trust, and (former) prisoners.

This FLF examines three diverse case study countries: England and Wales, Brazil and Canada, developing multinational implications. This approach is ambitious and risky, but critical for challenging commonsensical beliefs. Interviews, focus groups, observation and creative methodologies will be used. There are three aims, to: i) theorise the (potential) participatory roles of prisoners and the voluntary sector in prison regulation ii) appraise the (normative) relationships between multisectoral regulators (e.g. public, voluntary) from local to (trans)national scales iii) co-produce (with multisectoral regulators), pilot, document and disseminate models of participatory, effective and efficient prison regulation in England and Wales (and beyond) - integrating multisectoral, multiscalar penal overseers and prisoners into regulatory theory and practice.

This is an innovative study. Punishment scholars have paid limited attention to regulation. Participatory networks of (former) prisoners are a relatively new formation but rapidly growing in influence. Nobody has yet considered agencies like the Prisons Inspectorate and Ombudsman alongside voluntary sector organisations and participatory networks, nor their collective influences from local to transnational scales. Nobody has tried to work with all of these agencies to reconceptualise prison regulation and test it in practice.

Findings will be developed, disseminated and implemented internationally. The research team will present findings and engage with diverse stakeholders and decision makers through interactive workshops (Parliament, London, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham), and multimedia outputs (e.g. infographics). This FLF has implications for prisons and detention globally, and broader relevance as a case study of participatory regulation of public services and policy translation.

Time series data for the statistic Cause of death, by injury, ages 15-59, male (% of male population ages 15-59) and country United Kingdom. Indicator Definition:Number of male deaths ages 15-59 due to injury divided by number of all male deaths ages 15-59, expressed by percentage. Injury includes unintentional and intentional injuries.

In 2023, *** men and *** women in Scotland died due to suicide. The number of probable suicides among men in Scotland was at its highest figure since 2019. Related figures for deaths caused by intentional self-harm in England and Wales can be found here.