Swansea Prison 'failing to respond' to suicides

A damning report has found Swansea Prison has failed to respond effectively to high levels of self-harm and suicides of prisoners.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons undertook a visit in August last year and found the prison had not fully acted on recommendations by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, which investigates deaths in prisons.

Inspectors noted that there had been four suicides since their last inspection in 2014, all of which had happened within a week of arriving at the jail.

Inspectors also found, in the previous six months, there had been 134 incidents of self-harm, three times the rate that was recorded at the last inspection.

Responding to the report, Michael Spurr the chief executive of HM Prison and Probation Service said action has been taken since the inspection to strengthen safety arrangements.