Two more teenage suicides in custody

Two more teenage suicides in custody Two 18-year-old prisoners have
hanged themselves at Reading young offender institution in eight
days. They became the fifth and sixth young offenders to have taken
their own lives in custody in as many months.

Allan Blake died on 3 July and Liam Ritson on 26 June. The
incidents follow the suicides of Karl Lewis, 18, at Stoke Heath YOI
in January, Gareth Price, 16, at Lancaster Farms YOI in January,
Lee Crisp, 19, at Brinsford YOI in February and Steven Jones, 21,
at Preston prison in March.

Last month, the mother of 16-year-old young offender Joseph
Scholes, who committed suicide at Stoke Heath YOI in 2002, won the
first round of her legal battle for a public inquiry into his
death.