Anne Owers

The prisons watchdog has warned overcrowding is contributing to more than 17,600 self-harm incidents each year.

In a critical assessment on the state of the prison service, chief inspector Anne Owers said rising numbers of prisoners were undermining wider objectives such as improving the rehabilitation of offenders.

Her annual report, published on Wednesday, said the jailing of increasing numbers of criminals was undermining attempts to change the culture of Britain's prisons.

It was also hindering attempts to tackle suicide and self harm, reduce drug use and improve resettlement, healthcare, education and training of offenders.

The report disclosed there were 95 deaths in prisons last year, but warned this "is just the tip of the iceberg".

"There were a total of 17,678 recorded self harm incidents," said the report.

"Few prisons have a multi-disciplinary approach to the issue and there are two underlying issues: the scale of mental illness and the overall culture of prisons."

Mental health teams in prisons  "can only skim the surface of the severity and breadth of mental illness", added the watchdog.

Culture change

While there was a welcome for a "notable culture change in many establishments", this was coupled with a warning that there are still "cultural backwaters where this has not penetrated".

Education programmes were found to have benefited from investment, but only five of the 18 training prisons inspected last year were providing sufficient work and training for their prisoners.

"Our prisons are still 24 per cent overcrowded, and are operating perilously close to full capacity: they are still recording nearly two self-inflicted deaths a week; they are still discharging prisoners who have been unable to benefit from the education, training and resettlement support they need," said Owers.

"The levelling off of the prison population is, in reality, the difference between a manageable crisis and an unmanageable one."

She said the prison system had progressed in many areas, and was "capable of making even more progress".

"But it is trying to sustain those improvements against an undertow of continuing, unremitting pressure, and an increasingly needy and demanding population," she added.

Watchdog reform

Owers also cautioned against moves to create a single inspectorate for the entire criminal justice system.

"Consideration is now being given to the creation of a single criminal justice inspectorate and whilst there are undoubtedly gains to be made by examining the criminal justice process as a whole, it is difficult to see how the inspection of places of custody, as an end in itself, fits into such a broad objective," she said.

"Custodial inspection focuses on the culture and detail of individual establishments, not the system as a whole; it speaks directly to ministers, parliament and the public about what is going on in hidden custodial institutions."

The chief inspector said she had "consistently made clear my serious concern" about the possible move.

"I remain concerned that, over time and in practice, the sharp focus and robustly independent voice of the Prisons Inspectorate may be lost or muffled within a larger whole," she cautioned.