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<p>Every death in custody is a tragedy. We are taking forward a wide range of work
to reduce violence and the use of drugs, including new psychoactive substances, in
prisons and to address the levels of suicide and self-harm.</p><p> </p><p>All deaths
in prison custody are subject to a police investigation, an independent investigation
by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), and a Coroner’s inquest. We are committed
to learning from these investigations to inform the approach of both health and custodial
services in identifying and supporting prisoners at risk.</p><p> </p><p>All prisons
are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who
are at risk of harming themselves. The Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT)
process is a prisoner-centred, flexible care planning system for prisoners identified
as being at risk of suicide or self-harm. The National Offender Management Service
(NOMS) has recently reviewed compliance with the ACCT process and is working to implement
the recommendations, which include improvements to multi-disciplinary working between
prison and clinical mental health staff.</p><p> </p><p>NHS England is implementing
new prison clinical information systems which will improve the availability of clinical
information to staff in prisons from the early days in custody.</p><p> </p><p>In addition,
the government has initiated a cross departmental Mental Health Taskforce, tasked
with developing integrated mental health service pathways in the least restrictive
settings and aimed at providing support and intervention to those in need of help
at the earliest opportunity.</p>
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