A NORTH East prison recorded its highest ever number of inmate deaths last year according to the Government.

Nine prisoners died at Holme House Prison in Stockton last year compared to four in 2012, according to figures released by the Ministry of Justice.

Seven of those deaths were from natural causes with two classed as self-inflicted.

It was the highest number of deaths since the prison opened in 1992.

The number of deaths at Durham Prison doubled, from two in 2012, both self inflicted, to four in 2013, one of natural causes and three self-inflicted.

At Frankland in Durham, three prisoners died in 2013, all from natural causes, compared to eight in 2012.

One prisoner died a self-inflicted death at Low Newton Women’s Prison in Durham last year, the figures show, compared to none the year before.

The safety in custody figures show a nine per cent rise in the number of prison deaths with 215 recorded in England and Wales in 2013, the highest since records began in 1978.

Seventy four deaths in 2013 were recorded as self-inflicted – a rise of 23 per cent from 2012.

Nationally, 23,183 incidents of self-harm were recorded in prisons – 64 per day on average.

Women accounted for 26 per cent of these incidents, despite making up only five per cent of the prison population.

The number of serious assaults in prisons rose by 25 per cent from 1,255 in 2012 to 1,575 in 2013. Over the same period, the number of assaults on prison staff increased by 37 per cent.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “A complacent attitude towards overcrowding and overuse of custody, combined with cuts to budgets and staffing, is making prisons into dangerous places.”