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		</div><p>Attacks on prison staff in the UK rose 15% in a year, while self-harm incidents in jails reached a new record level, official figures show.</p>
<p>Assaults behind bars hit a new high of 34,425 in the 12 months to March 2019, up 11% from the previous year, and a rate of 415 incidents per 1,000 prisoners.</p>
<p>There were 10,311 attacks on staff – the highest since comparable records began, a British Ministry of Justice (MoJ) report showed.</p>
<p>Of those, 1,002 assaults were classed as “serious” – such as those which require medical treatment or result in fractures, burns, or extensive bruising – an increase of 12% from 2017/18.</p>
<p>The MoJ report noted that there has been a change in how assaults on staff are recorded, which may have contributed to the increase.</p>
<p>There was a record high of 57,968 self-harm incidents, up 24% since the previous year, with the number of prisoners self-harming increasing by 6% to 12,539.</p>
<p>In the year to June 2019, there were 309 deaths in prison – down slightly from 311 the previous year – including 86 which were believed to be self-inflicted, up from 81.</p>
<p>Assaults, including serious assaults, attacks on staff and self-harm incidents were all up on the previous quarter.</p>
<p>In April, then prisons minister Rory Stewart said he hoped he had turned the tide on violence behind bars after the three months to December 2018 showed a decrease in assaults, including those on staff – the first quarterly drop in two years.</p>
<p>He had promised to resign if the violence figures did not improve before he was promoted to International Development Secretary, a post he resigned from after Theresa May stepped down as prime minister on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The latest figures show there was an 18% increase in assaults at youth institutions to 2,331 – a new record level – and a 47% rise in serious assaults on staff, to 50 incidents, in the latest year.</p>
<p>The figures come after the Government stopped sending children to Feltham A young offender institution following an inspection which found an “extraordinary” decline in safety levels.</p>
<p>A report outlined soaring levels of violence and self-harm, high use of staff force, poor care and long periods of lock-up in cells at the high-profile unit in west London, which holds youngsters aged between 15 and 18.</p>
<p>It was the first time the urgent notification process – requiring the Justice Secretary to publicly report on improvement measures within 28 days – had been used for a young offender institution.</p>
<p>Charlotte Pickles, director of the Reform think tank, said: <em>“These figures continue to show unacceptably high levels of violence and self-harm in our prisons.</em></p>
<p><em>“Our new Prime Minister has presented himself as tough on crime.</em></p>
<p><em>“But the most effective way to cut crime is to reduce reoffending. That means investing in prison safety and rehabilitation to help offenders turn their lives around.</em></p>
<p><em>“It also means keeping prison as a last resort.”</em></p>
<p>Deborah Coles, director of charity Inquest, called on the new Justice Secretary to take “bold and decisive” action to tackle the prisons crisis.</p>
<p><em>“Deaths, self-harm, violence, impoverished regimes and conditions are the daily reality of the prison system,”</em> she said.</p>
<p><em>“Despair and distress are at unprecedented levels in failing institutions within a failing system.</em></p>
<p><em>“The failure to act on warnings from inspection, monitoring, investigation bodies and inquests exposes an accountability vacuum allowing dangerous practices to continue.</em></p>
<p><em>“The new Justice Secretary must act upon what are clear solutions – tackle sentencing policy, reduce the prison population and redirect resources to community health and welfare services.”</em></p>
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