Some foreign inmates at HMP Risley in Warrington have been self-harming because 'deportation to their home countries is taking too long', a prison watchdog has found.
Although incidents of self-harm have fallen at the category C Cheshire prison, which houses more than 1,100 inmates, fell sharply last year, a report by the Independent Monitoring Board expressed concern at the increase in self-harm incidents among foreign nationals.
Almost a quarter of the prisoners at HMP Risley are foreign - the jail is used as a north west hub for overseas citizens who are given prison sentences. READ MORE: 'Unwell' driver who killed road worker after smashing through barriers found dead at his home weeks later A government minister has confirmed immigration officials now form part of a new unit on A Wing - where many of the foreign nationals are housed - to 'increase the chances of successful repatriation,' while some detainees were being released on electronic tags.
In its annual report, the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Risley - a group of unpaid lay people who monitor the jail - expressed concern at the rise in self-harm incidents in the year ending March 2021.
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