TENS of thousands of prisoners are committing self-harm in jail, hundreds die in custody and dozens kill themselves, the latest findings from the Ministry of Justice showed today.

Prisons recorded 53,754 incidents of self-harm — a rate of one every 10 minutes — representing a 3 per cent increase in men’s prisons and 7 per cent in women’s prisons. 

There were 288 deaths in custody, of which 66 were suicide, and 20,077 assaults — a 13 per cent rise