Lord Falconer, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to the publication of the Report of the Independent Review into Self-inflicted Deaths in Custody of 18-24 year olds, said:

“We welcome today’s report. Lord Harris and the Review Panel have produced an excellent, detailed piece of work and we will carefully consider the recommendations they make.

“Our prisons are in crisis. The last Government did nothing while violence increased and failures to protect both staff and inmates were repeated over and over again. I hope this Government will wake up to how serious the problem is and give Lord Harris’s recommendations the consideration they deserve.”