Strong relationships built on trust between experienced prison staff and vulnerable prisoners are key to managing the risk of suicide in prison, according to research led by Caius law Fellow Dr Amy Ludlow. But the paper found budget constraints and a trend towards “paper-based management” are harming officers’ ability to identify prisoners at risk and build trust with them.

A study conducted by Dr Ludlow for a review by the Labour peer Lord Toby Harris into self-inflicted death among 18-24-year-olds in prisons found “jailcraft” – the knowledge, expertise and judgement gained through on-the-job experience – is used by many staff to identify prisoners at risk of suicide. Some staff felt jailcraft was even more important than training in preventing deaths in custody, though others felt training also had a key role in equipping them with the skills needed.

Prison staff also highlighted the crucial role of “purposeful activity” in diverting and occupying younger prisoners. The report states: “Employment and access to the gym were seen as particularly important. Some of the prisons we visited had developed in-cell activities, ‘distraction packs’ that included Sudoku, crosswords and pictures to colour in, to help occupy prisoners who were poor at coping alone ‘behind their door’.”

However, many staff felt their capacity to build and proactively use expertise they had gained has been hampered by funding pressures and the increasing use of “tick box” paper-based management procedures.

The Harris review was set up by the government following an increase in suicides in custody since 2012 after seven years of steady decline. The review commissioned researchers from Cambridge University’s Faculty of Law and Prisons Research Centre (PRC), led by Dr Ludlow, and RAND Europe – a not-for-profit research institute - to examine the experience, knowledge and views of prison staff about the nature of suicide risk and its identification and management. The research team conducted formal interviews, focus groups, and intensive participant observation across five prisons, both private and public, across England and Wales.

The Cambridge study published today, Self-Inflicted Deaths in Custody amongst 18-24 year olds: Staff Experience, Knowledge and Views, states: “Prison staff universally identified staff-prisoner relationships as the key to identifying and managing risk. There was strong agreement that staff capacity to form and sustain high-quality staff–prisoner relationships supported SID prevention.

“Staff also reported that the ability to identify prisoners at risk and taking the time to develop trust with them had been adversely affected by budgetary pressures and the increasing trend toward paper-based methods of management.”

It adds: “The problem was not just too few staff on wings but that the staff who were present were less effective than they could be because of inconsistent detailing, the use of agency and detached duty staff and low staff morale.”

The full findings of this study are available online at http://iapdeathsincustody.independent.gov.uk/. The research team from the Prisons Research Centre and RAND Europe will host a roundtable event discussing to discuss this and related research at an event at the University of Cambridge on 8 September 2015.

For more information, contact Lucy Ward, communications officer. news@cai.cam.ac.uk

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