Huntley bid puts focus on suicide

Huntley was in a jail specialising in handling suicide-risk prisoners

Ian Huntley's drug overdose at Wakefield will renew the debate over the effectiveness of the measures in place to prevent deaths in custody.

Although jail suicides fell by a fifth last year - and are already down this year - campaign groups have warned against complacency.

Serial killer Harold Shipman used a ligature of bed sheets to hang himself in his cell in Wakefield in 2004.

A report by Prisons Ombudsman Stephen Shaw criticised the prison authorities.

He went on to make 17 recommendations to prevent further deaths, including a call to iron out inconsistencies in the Suicide Prevention Policy.

Previous attempt

Huntley himself made a suicide bid in 2003 while awaiting trial for the murder of 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

He saved up to 29 anti-depressant pills in a box of teabags and was found suffering a fit on the floor of his cell at Woodhill Prison, near Milton Keynes.

An official report into that incident uncovered a number of "serious systems failures" and criticised management and staff briefings for not being "robust enough".

Harold Shipman killed himself in Wakefield jail

One of the most headline-catching suicides was that of serial killer Fred West, who hanged himself in Winson Green Prison in Birmingham in 1995.

Currently, prisoners feared by staff to be at risk of suicide are placed on different levels of supervision according to the individual case. Where possible, prisoners are placed in a shared cell to reduce the amount of time they spend alone.

But when at-risk inmates are alone in a cell, various levels of suicide watch can be made according to recommendations by a doctor.

The level of risk is assessed on a daily basis by staff according to factors including the mood of the prisoner - and checks are then adjusted accordingly.

One watch level is known as intermittent supervision - where an inmate is checked at least five times every hour at irregular intervals.

In rare cases prisoners can be placed under constant supervision, but this can only usually be for a limited time.

Overcrowded and short-staffed

The current system is in the process of being changed to a more "holistic" approach known as the ACCT Plan (Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork) that aims to involve the prisoner in the decision-making process.

One group, the Howard League for Penal Reform, said it welcomed the policy changes that were being made, but said they had been undermined by overcrowding.

Prison Reform Trust director Juliet Lyon said: "Prisons are very hard-pressed.

Officers have to be lucky every time and one day he will succeed, no matter how good their measures are Mark Leech, editor of Prisons Handbook

"They are overcrowded, short-staffed and staff do not get adequate training.

"Prison officers are required to look after people with humanity and respect regardless of what they have done, but they are under extreme pressure at the moment."

Mark Leech, editor of the Prisons Handbook, said whatever the anti-suicide procedures, they were "not infallible" and would "inevitably fail".

Referring to Huntley, he said: "The prison officers have to be lucky every time and one day he will succeed, no matter how good their measures are."

Mr Leech suggests there may now be a case for offering voluntary euthanasia to prisoners who are facing the rest of their lives behind bars.

"I think it is a position that needs to be explored rather than simply pooh-poohed," he said.