The prisons watchdog has finally realised its bite isn’t hard enough

Analysis: As self-harm surges among inmates, the chief inspector of prisons has conceded his repeated warnings have not gone far enough

‘Are we just going to carry on as we are or are we going to take a serious look at this?’ (AFP/Getty)

“Is any progress going to really be made unless there is a significant independent investigation into what is happening in terms of suicide and self-harm?” asked the chief inspector of prisons on Tuesday morning, to a room full of journalists.

“Are we just going to carry on as we are or are we going to take a serious look at this?”

Peter Clarke was talking about the soaring rates of suicide and self-harm among inmates across England and Wales. He was visibly perturbed by his own findings that, yet again, more prisoners were harming themselves and taking their own lives than they were a year ago.