Section one Context The situation in detention during the year schedule, with many prisoners not having these appropriately completed.4 Prisons A serious decline in outcomes for prisoners was of concern to NPM members in England and Wales. In particular, inspection reports for 2014–15 indicated a sharp decline in safety and purposeful activity outcomes, with a 10% rise in assault incidents and a 33% increase in serious assaults on staff between 2013 and 2014. There were 76 self-inflicted deaths during the reporting year. Data from NOMS showed that 25 of those who took their lives were on an open assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) document – a case management system for prisoners identified as at risk of self-harm or suicide. Health services had improved across the prison estate, but the emerging phenomenon of new psychoactive substances (NPS)5 in prisons contributed to problems of debt and violence among prisoners. Outcomes for purposeful activity were only good or reasonably good in 25% of adult male prisons inspected during the year. The new core day, introduced across most adult prisons in this reporting year, was hampered by staff shortages, which impacted on prisoners’ access to meaningful activity. Though overcrowding and staff shortages affected day-to-day living arrangements in many prisons, good individual relationships between staff and prisoners offset some of the worst problems these caused. There were concerns that the offender assessment system (OASys) sentencing planning process was well behind Police and court custody Although inspections have shown that conditions in police custody in England and Wales have improved over the last five years, it was of great concern that the number of deaths in or following police custody increased from 11 in 2013–14 to 17 in 2014–15.6 Too many vulnerable people continued to be held in police custody, and greater efforts were needed to safeguard children and those with mental health problems and, where appropriate, divert them from the criminal justice system.7 There was a welcome fall in the number of people detained in police custody as a place of safety under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 from 8,667 in 2011–12 to 6,028 in 2013–14,8 but although some forces had made excellent progress in addressing this, others continued to detain too many people in crisis.9 Although high numbers of children continued to be detained overnight in police cells, and people from black and minority ethnic groups continued to be 4 See HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales (2015), Annual Report 2014-15; and reports of the Independent Monitoring Boards, at http://www.imb.org.uk/reports/. 5 New drugs that mimic the effects of illegal drugs, such as cannabis, heroin or amphetamines, and may have unpredictable and life-threatening effects. 6 Independent Police Complaints Commission (2015) Deaths during or following police contact: statistics for England and Wales 2014-15. 7 HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (2015), The welfare of vulnerable people in police custody; see also http://www. blackmentalhealth.org.uk/index.php/expert-opinion-mainmenu-127/1584-home-office-a-bmh-uk-joint-summit-putsdiasporas-concerns-back-on-mental-health-agenda (accesed 14/10/15). 8 Health and Social Care Information Centre (2014), Inpatients formally detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983, and patients subject to supervised community treatment, 2013-14, table 9. 9 The new government announced its intention to prohibit the use of police cells as a place of safety for children and further reduce their use in the case of adults requiring mental health care and treatment. See: https://www.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/430149/QS_lobby_pack_FINAL_NEW_2.pdf, p.68 (accesed 14/10/15). 13