Although prison suicide is a global problem, there is little knowledge about the investigations occurring after prison suicides. Addressing this gap, this book provides the first detailed case study of the investigations that follow prison suicides: using England and Wales. Despite the large range of institutions that monitor English and Welsh prisons, suicides reached a record high in 2016, with the rate having doubled since 2012. These deaths represent the sharp end of a continuum of suffering, self-harm, despair and distress within prisons, which affects prisoners, their families and prison staff. This book details and critiques the lengthy and expensive police, ombudsman and coroner investigations that follow prison suicides. Drawing on extensive document analysis, including analysis of over 100 Prison and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations, and original semi-structured interviews with stakeholders undertaken between 2016-2017, this book provides a novel analysis of prison oversight.

About the Author
Philippa Tomczak is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham School of Sociology. She won the 2017 British Society of Criminology Book Prize for her monograph The Penal Voluntary Sector. She co- ordinates the international, interdisciplinary CRIMVOL research network.

Reviews
''A very urgent and important topic, this excellent study shows the wider impact of self-inflicted deaths in prison and deserves to be widely read''. Philip Leach EHRAC, Middlesex University



Book Information
ISBN 9781529203585
Author Philippa Tomczak
Format Hardback
Page Count 180
Imprint Bristol University Press
Publisher Bristol University Press