5 May 2011

Young offenders found dead in Northern Ireland

Two young prisoners are thought to have hanged themselves in Northern Ireland, raising further calls for an independent review after a spate of teen suicides in English prisons.

Two young offenders are found hanged in Northern Ireland (Image: Getty)

The bodies of Samuel Carson, 19, and Frances McKeown, 23, were found in their cells by staff at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre and Prison in south Belfast on Wednesday .

Ligatures were recovered from both cells after attempts to resuscitate the pair were unsuccessful. Mr Caron was found just after 5pm by staff, while Miss McKeown was found later that night around 8.30pm.

Prison Service director general Colin McConnell said: “Yesterday’s tragic events at Hydebank Wood have stunned everyone and there is deep sadness across the service”.

The news follows the death of five teenagers, in five different prisons in England, in a matter of just five weeks.

A spokeswoman from the charity Howard League for Penal Reform told Channel 4 News the run of recent suicides was very unusual. Since 2005, no more than five young offenders a year have died.

Five deaths in five weeks:
- Nicholas Wheller, 19, found hanging in his cell at Aylesbury young offenders' institution (YOI) on 9 March and who died on 16 March.
- Trevor Llambias, 18, found hanging in his cell at Bedford prison on 28 March, the day of his trial for grievous bodily harm.
- Nicholas Saunders, 18, found hanging in his cell at Stoke Heath YOI in Shropshire on 2 April.
- Mahry Rosser, aged 19, found hanging in her cell at New Hall YOI, near Wakefield, on 17 April, while serving three years for robbery.
- Ryan Clark, aged 17, found hanging in his cell at Wetherby YOI, on 18 April, while on remand.

“The key connection between them all is their age,” she said. “Otherwise there is nothing that accounts for the sudden high number of deaths. There has been an appeal for an inquiry to see what’s happening inside our prisons – we need to take a joined up look at what’s happening.”

Deborah Coles, co-director of the charity Inquest, said the main problem was that death inquiries are often delayed by up to two years and are looked at in isolation, rather than together.

“We need a thorough scrutiny,” she told Channel 4 News. “Delays frustrate the opportunity to learn lessons promptly. The issues behind the deaths will not be scrutinised if a couple of years pass.”

Young adults are a particularly vulnerable group because much of the support for young people is removed when they reach the age of 18, leaving them destabilised, the spokeswoman for the Howard League said.

Ms Coles added that there is the need to look at the predominant issues of the young offenders, and decide if imprisonment is the best answer.

“A large number have mental health issues, problems with drugs or alcohol, or they have been abused or are bereaved,” Ms Coles said.

“We appear not be learning the important lesson which is that it’s dangerous to imprison young and vulnerable people,” she added.

According to Prison Service annual reports, during the year 2009/10 there were 190 incidents of self-harm across all sites as well as one death in custody awaiting an inquest.

In 2004/5 more than half of those leaving young offender institutions (YOIs) had no recorded education, training or employment place and 13 per cent left custody with no accommodation