A TOTAL of five Lancashire prisoners took their own lives during 2014 as the suicide rate behind bars rose to its highest level for seven years.

In total, 235 people died in prisons in England and Wales during 2014, according to data compiled by the Howard League for Penal Reform revealed.

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The statistics are based on notifications from the Ministry of Justice, which records deaths in custody.

There were fifteen deaths recorded in Lancashire prisons during last year, meaning that a third of Lancashire prisoner deaths were by suicide.

Preston was one of only six prisons nationwide to record three deaths in custody, while two prisons in the South East each recorded four deaths.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “No-one should be so desperate whilst they are in the care of the state that they take their own life.

“The numbers hide the true extent of misery inside prisons and for families. It is particularly tragic that teenagers and other young people have died by their own hand in our prisons and we should all be ashamed that this happened.

“Hard-pressed prison staff have to save lives by cutting people down almost every day and without this the death toll would be even higher.

“It is evident that people are dying as a direct result of the cuts to the number of staff, particularly more experienced staff, in every prison.

“The government has chosen to allow the prison population to increase whilst it cuts staff, and that has led to an increase in people dying by suicide.”