Better recording of prisoner inequalities could help prevent deaths in custody, new study finds

A lack of data on prisoner characteristics is providing an incomplete picture of who dies in prison and why, which may be contributing to preventable deaths in custody, according to a new report.

In the new report – ‘How recording inequalities can reduce prisoner deaths’  – published here , a team of experts from the University of Nottingham highlight that equality data, including characteristics of prisoners such as disability and indicators of socioeconomic deprivation, was an essential foundation for evidence-based action to prevent deaths in custody.

The study, which is part of the European Research Council funded RECEDE project, was led by Philippa Tomczak, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Dr Laura Haas, Research Fellow, in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham.

Since 2012, the number of prisoner deaths in England and Wales has risen significantly. Many of these deaths are preventable but remain largely invisible to the public.

Professor Tomczak said: “Our report highlights that enhanced data is an essential foundation for evidence-based action to prevent prisoner deaths. Yet, information on key prisoner characteristics such as ethnicity, disability and socioeconomic deprivation is not routinely recorded or published as part of prisoner death investigations.

“This means that prisoner death investigations are not compliant with the Public Sector Equality Duty and do not align with domestic abuse related death investigations, child death investigations or maternal mortality data.”

In their report, the team found that enhancing death data would help save lives, improve services and:

• Inform service provision to address unequally distributed risks of death;
• Improve consistency across different types of death data and investigations;
• Enhance compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
• Build on initiatives including the Data First programme and the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) partnership.

The team recommends that the Ministry of Justice and Prisons and Probation Ombudsman strengthen prisoner data by:

• Including prisoner characteristics in Prisons and Probation Ombudsman death investigation reports and bringing individual reports together into a single dataset;
• Increasing recognition of disabilities in death datasets;
• Publishing ethnicity data at more detailed levels of disaggregation;
• Including socioeconomic deprivation in prisoner death data;
• Publishing an intersectional breakdown of equality data.

Dr Haas said: “Implementing our recommendations would enable an analysis of patterns of inequality and unmet needs in prisoner deaths that are currently obscured, and support evidence-based prevention of deaths and service development. In our report, we provide examples of good practice from other death datasets to illustrate how to align recording practices and facilitate implementation of our recommendations.”

The new report is being released alongside a touring production of Woodhill, the multi-award-winning documentary play by theatre company LUNG.

The production tells the true stories of three families seeking answers following the deaths of their loved ones at HMP Woodhill between 2013 and 2018, highlighting the human impact behind the report’s findings.

The Woodhill Families said “Our boys needed help, not punishment. They were given a prison sentence that turned into a death sentence. There is a crisis unfolding in our prisons. We are proud to be taking our story across the country and launching a national campaign. We will not stop until our voices are heard.”

Matt Woodhead (Co-Director of LUNG and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham said): “HMP Woodhill has received two urgent notifications in the last three years. It is heartbreaking to read that the rates of self-harm are still the highest in the male estate and acutely mentally unwell men are waiting 191 days to be transferred to a secure hospital. Recognising prisoner characteristics and publishing an intersectional breakdown of equality data is vital in taking the first step to saving lives at HMP Woodhill. To prevent future deaths, we need to understand who is at most risk so they can get the support they need – which is their human right”.