‘You could see their distress’: Women in prison far more likely to self-harm than male inmates

‘I saw lots of women self-harming. It was an absence of attention for many of them and feeling like not having someone to recognise they were alive,’ a former prisoner tells Maya Oppenheim

Almost a third of female prisoners were found to have self-harmed (Getty)

Women in prison are substantially more likely to self-harm than male inmates as the number of female prisoners affected hits its highest level in nearly a decade.

Government data shows 3,007 incidents of self-harm per 1,000 prisoners in female establishments between September 2018 and September 2019 – almost five times the equivalent figure for men.

Almost a third of female prisoners were found to have self-harmed, and charities say this is indicative of problems with the justice system which mean women are given inappropriate sentences.