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<p>The Government publishes statistics on deaths in custody quarterly, and updated
detailed tables annually. These figures cover only England and Wales. They can be
viewed at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/632625/safety-in-custody-quarterly-bulletin-mar-2017.pdf"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/632625/safety-in-custody-quarterly-bulletin-mar-2017.pdf</a></p><p>
</p><p>In the twelve months to June 2017, there were 97 apparent self-inflicted deaths
in custody.</p><p> </p><p>Improving safety is a priority for this Government. We are
investing £100m a year to strengthen the frontline by recruiting around 2,500 more
prison officers by the end of 2018. We are rolling out improved training across the
estate for staff on suicide and self-harm reduction and have put in place specialist
roles - regional safer custody leads - in every region to provide advice to prisons
and to spread good practice on identifying and supporting prisoners at risk. We are
providing grant funding to the Samaritans to support the prisoner Listener scheme
and are providing an additional funding in 2017-18 to fund a number of other projects,
including a learning tool for staff and emotional resilience training for prisoners.</p>
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