Question reference: S5W-35941
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 10 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many attempted suicides by prisoners in custody were recorded in (a) 2018, (b) 2019 and (c) 2020.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
The SPS takes all instances of self-harm and threats to suicide very seriously and robust processes are in place to ensure those at risk are identified and supported effectively.
SPS records threats of, as well as actual incidences of, self-harm and the table below shows the number of attempted suicides, or threats of attempted suicide, in each of the past three financial years across the prison estate.
Number of attempted suicides in prison | ||||
2018-19* | 2019-20* | 2020-21* | Total | |
Total | 35 | 52 | 30 | 117 |
*This data may be subject to small change due to reclassification of incidents.