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COVER STORY: MENTAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Criminal Neglect
Frances Crook examines why so many people commit suicide or attempt self-harm in prison

 

AMY WAS 19 and serving her first prison sentence when she told us that she was injuring herself every day, mainly at night. She had set fire to herself just in the first few days. Amy is one of hundreds of women prisoners who cut, swallow, set fire or attempt to hang themselves every week in prisons. Last year 14 took their own lives.