Suicides in prisons in England and Wales rose by almost a quarter last year, furthering fears of a mental health crisis among detainees.

Of the 311 deaths in prison custody in 2023, 93 were self-inflicted – a 22% increase on the year before – according to government statistics published this morning.

The news comes after it was revealed that there were 6,213 incidents of self-harm for every 1,000 women in prison in the 12 months to September 2023 – the highest levels since records began.

Campaigners told openDemocracy that the huge rises in both self-harm and self-inflicted deaths show prisons are increasingly unsuitable for vulnerable people.

“The neglect and violence of prisons is so extreme that people are often driven to self-harm in order to cope with conditions or in an attempt to access the care and support that they are being denied,” said Kelsey Mohamed of Cradle Community, a campaign group calling for prison abolition and transformative justice.

This was echoed by Deborah Coles, director at the charity INQUEST, which campaigns on state-related deaths, who said the latest figures are “yet another shocking indictment of our prison system and how it exacerbates the trauma of those inside”.

Gary Solomon, from the group Anti-Carceral Solidarity, said several detainees he has spoken with have complained of severely deteriorating mental health – with many blaming ‘red regimes’, in which they are not allowed out of their cells due to acute shortages in staffing.

Prisons in England and Wales implemented red regimes 22 times in the first 10 months of 2023, according to The Guardian.

Campaigners openDemocracy spoke with also raised concerns over the soaring rate of self-harm in women’s prisons, which increased by 63% in the year to September 2023.

Rates of self-harm rose by 3% in men’s prisons over the same period. Women detainees were more than 10 times more likely to self-harm than men.

Many of the women affected are likely to be “mothers who have been forcibly separated from their children”, warned Janey Starling, a co-director of Level Up, which campaigns to end imprisonment for pregnant women and new mothers.

Just last week it was reported that HMP Bronzefield has begun giving women rape alarms to use to call for help during labour. In 2019, a newborn baby died in the prison when the mother was forced to give birth on her own in her cell.

The mother, who was 18 at the time, had repeatedly pressed her cell bell to summon urgent assistance, but it took more than 12 hours for staff to attend. She ended up having to bite through her own umbilical cord.

Campaigners said the latest stats show that imprisoning women does more harm than good – and urged ministers to stop the practice.

“How many deaths must it take before the government finally takes action and ends the needless imprisonment of women to save lives?” asked Coles at INQUEST.

Starling agreed, pointing out that “the government’s own evidence has shown that women swept up into crime should be supported through women’s centres, not incarceration”.

A 2021 report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation found that community women’s centres are far more cost-effective than custody.

The Ministry of Justice’s own Female Offender Strategy also previously found that “custody is particularly damaging for women”, saying most would be better supported in the community.

Starling said that today’s new data showed that the case for investing in community support for women in place of prisons “has never been more urgent”.