What HMP Leeds and care providers have said after prisoner deaths

A series of reports by Sue McAllister have outlined significant failings in the way that prison staff assessed the risks of suicide and self-harm.

The prison has not been fully inspected by HM Inspectorate of Prisons since December 2019, when 600 cases of self-harm had been recorded in just six months.

Since then, Ms McAllister has investigated six self-inflicted deaths which she described as "unacceptable" and "shocking" when speaking exclusively to the YEP.

In response to her findings, the YEP approached the Ministry of Justice to question what measures had been put in place in response.

The government department told us "stringent measures" had been introduced to avoid deaths such as that of Mohammed Irfann Afzal who lost three stone in just 48 days before being found dead in his cell in 2019.

A spokesperson said HMP Leeds had improved staff training on suicide and self-harm.

“Our thoughts remain with the families who have lost a loved one and we have put stringent measures in place to avoid this happening again", they said.

“HMP Leeds has improved staff training on suicide and self-harm and all prisoners are now assigned a key worker upon arrival to the prison, as part of our commitment to improving mental health at the institution.”

The spokesperson said the MOJ accepted the recommendations outlined by Ms McAllister "in full".

The food refusal policy at HMP Leeds has been reviewed and updated, they said.

According to the MOJ, every member of staff receives rigorous training on how to deal with prisoners rejecting food following the case of Mr Afzal.

Secure video call technology has been rolled out across the prison network and youth custody establishment to enable prisoners to remain in touch with their families, the MOJ told us.

"We have provided self-harm and suicide prevention training to 25,0000 prison officers across the estate to help them better support offenders", they said.

Senior Coroner Kevin McLoughlin said delays in providing treatment to Mr Afzal contributed "more than minimally" to his death.

In his inquest findings, Mr McLoughlin said the operation of the key worker scheme in the prison had "failed Mr Afzal".

He added: "In Mr Afzal’s case, the key worker that was assigned to him was not made aware that they were the key worker until week seven of him being in prison.

"The key worker had no understanding of any previous issues identified related to Mr Afzal.

"This lack of understanding and knowledge by his key worker overall suggests an unsatisfactory service being provided by the key worker to Mr Afzal.

"This is a missed opportunity as a key worker could have been another level of support for a prisoner who was in need."

Concerns were first raised about Mr Afzal’s mental health on his intake interview, the coroner said, although it took some time before his first full assessment was booked.

Mr McLoughlin continued: "His repeated lack of engagement or attendance, combined with multiple failures to pass referrals on to the mental health team, including the learning disabilities nurse and the psychiatrist seems to have resulted in a lack of interventions.

"Despite an urgent referral to the psychiatrist on the 15th of July, it appears there is little to no contact between Mr Afzal and healthcare until the 2nd of August."

Practice Plus Group Health and Rehabilitation Services Limited are providers of healthcare at HMP Leeds.

After being approached as part of the YEP's investigation, a spokesperson said they had implemented the recommendations of the Ombudsman.

They said staff had been retrained to spot danger signals in similar cases to Mr Afzal's and their food refusal policy had been revised.

“Among these key changes, we now weigh patients on admission and track their weights; we have revised our food refusal policy and where patients have complex nutritional issues or low BMIs they are reviewed by a multi-disciplinary committee and appropriate interventions occur", the spokesperson said.

“We have also introduced the National Early Warning Score to flag abnormalities so that deteriorating patient conditions are addressed with urgency.

“Staff have been retrained and encouraged to spot the danger signals in cases like this.

“Delivering healthcare to patients inside prisons has particular challenges, but we remain committed to learning lessons and will continually strive to prevent such events occurring again.”