Earlier today a young woman aged 18 was found hanging in her cell at Brockhill prison. Commenting on this tragic death in custody Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

‘Last year 94 people killed themselves in our prisons. This was a massive increase from 73 deaths in 2001 and reflects chronic overcrowding throughout the prison system. Prisons are not treatment centres. They cannot hope to provide the high level of care needed by vulnerable people with severe mental health problems and drug treatment needs, 

Any death in prison is a tragedy for the individual, the family, staff and other prisoners but the loss of such a young life should stop us in our tracks and make us question a system where we lock up our most vulnerable and needy children and young people without the care and supervision they so badly need.’