CALLS are being made to make prisons safer as it was revealed two people have taken their lives behind bars in Dorset this year.

The Howard League for Penal Reform has revealed than 100 people have lost their lives through suicide in prisons in England and Wales so far this year, an all-time record, as it calls to make jails safer.

Its report shows that one person has committed suicide at Portland YOI and another at Guys Marsh, near Shaftesbury.

It has published the preventing prison suicide report jointly with the Centre for Mental Health charity and is calling for urgent action to make prisons safer and healthier places to reduce suicide risk.

The report comes just weeks after prison staff in Dorset joined colleagues around the country in protesting against 'unsafe working conditions' and inmates at Guys Marsh showed off 'smuggled steaks' online.

The figures show that over the past four years eight people have now committed suicide in Dorset’s prisons.

The Howard League for Penal Reform has said that the rise in suicides has coincided with cuts to staffing and budgets and a rise in the number of people in prison that has led to overcrowding.

It states that violence has increased and safety has deteriorated.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “The number of people dying by suicide in prison has reached epidemic proportions. No one should be so desperate while in the care of the state that they take their own life, and yet every three days a family is told that a loved one has died behind bars.

“Cutting staff and prison budgets while allowing the number of people behind bars to grow unchecked has created a toxic mix of violence, death and human misery.

“This report makes clear that there are practical steps that can be taken to make prisons safer."

The report calls for a revised incentives and earned privileges scheme in prisons as well as that inmates with mental health problems and those known to be at risk of suicide never being placed in solitary confinement.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said mental health in custody is taken extremely seriously and there are a range of measures already in place to help support prisoners.

“Providing the right intervention and treatment is vital to improving the outcomes for people who are suffering and all prisons have established procedures in place to identify, manage and support people with mental health issues.

“But we recognise that more can be done. That is why have invested in specialist mental health training for prison officers, allocated more funding for prison safety and have launched a suicide and self-harm reduction project to address the increase in self-inflicted deaths and self-harm in our prisons.”