Within prisons, the care for those with mental health issues is particularly poorly managed.

The headline in today’s Liverpool Echo makes depressing reading. There have been ten deaths in Merseyside’s prisons in 2014 and that does not include the death of Darren Ashcroft who was stabbed to death in November.

I have previously written about the concerns of our firm about the apparent failure of prisons to learn lessons from these tragedies. We are regularly being asked to represent families at inquests where the prison system seems to fail their loved ones. It appears that the care for those with mental health issues is particularly poorly managed.

The Prison Service is highly regulated and subject to endless rules and regulations. Unfortunately the system is only as good as the people who are managing it and running it. So when an issue is raised and a tragedy occurs lessons need to be learned and practice reformed and changed.

The response of Prisons Minister Andrew Selous to the Howard League for Penal Reform seems to me to be unhelpful. One death in prison is indeed too many - a commitment to change rather than throwing back criticism at the campaigners would be a more helpful response.

After every inquest into a prison death the Coroner is required to submit a report to assist in preventing future deaths. The Minister would do well to read and consider them and to respond appropriately.

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