Prisons: Liverpool tops inmate suicide list

Liverpool prison has the worst suicide record in the British jail system, with 19 inmates having taken their lives there since 1990.

Strangeways in Manchester and Brixton prison in London have the next worst tolls with 13 self-inflicted deaths at each jail in the same period.

The Rising Toll of Prison Suicide, a report by the Prison Reform Trust, links the "steady increase" in the number of prison suicides to the growing problem of overcrowding.

The trust states that during the mid-1980s the annual number of suicides remained between 20 and 25. However, in the past three years the number has been between 60 and 64.

The prisoners most at risk are those under 25, those held on remand, mentally disordered prisoners and those beginning long sentences.