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<p>All deaths of offenders under supervision are the subject of an internal review
by the relevant probation provider, which must consider from the circumstances whether
any areas of probation practice could be improved. This includes the deaths of those
being supervised after release from custody. Probation providers report annually to
Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service on the numbers of deaths and their causes,
and share learning points from the reviews that they have conducted. A small number
of deaths under post-release supervision, including those that occur in Approved Premises,
are independently investigated by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.</p><p> </p><p>The
number of offenders who died under supervision increased from 704 in 2010/11 to 955
in 2017/18. The Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) was introduced on 1 February 2015
and resulted in an increase in the number of offenders on post-release supervision.
While the total number of deaths under supervision has continued to increase, the
number of deaths post-release fell by 8% in the last year, from 401 in 2016/17 to
367 in 2017/18.</p><p> </p><p>The National Suicide Prevention Strategy identifies
people in contact with the criminal justice system as a high-risk group, and we recognise
that the time following release from prison can be a particularly high-risk period
for suicide and for deaths from other causes. The primary role of probation is to
protect the public and prevent re-offending, and people under supervision in the community
are not in the care of HM Prison and Probation Service in the way that they are when
in custody. While probation staff do everything they can to help offenders find access
to vital services including healthcare, housing, and treatment for drug and alcohol
problems, they do not have sole responsibility for caring for them. We are conducting
a review of post-release deaths, which aims to identify what further actions may be
appropriate to prevent them, while recognising that a range of other organisations
share responsibility for their wellbeing.</p><p> </p><p>We are also investing an extra
£22m in ‘through-the-gate’ assistance for offenders, to help them find the support
they need on issues such as housing, healthcare and employment, and they have the
same access to these services as any other person in the community.</p><p> </p><p>The
number of deaths under post-release supervision during 2017/18, broken down by time
elapsed since release and by cause of death, is in the attached table. The figures
are taken from probation providers’ annual reports. Care is taken when processing
and analysing them, but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any
large-scale recording system.</p>
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