Woman who thought she was poisoned with tapeworm eggs describes ‘rife’ self-harm in prison
When Bryony was held in prison, she says self-harm was “rife”.
The then 27-year-old – who had no criminal record – was arrested when she was having delusions she was being poisoned.
After her mother’s death from pancreatic cancer, Bryony (not her real name) started to develop mental health problems while she was a university student.
They culminated in a psychosis where she believed there was a tapeworm in her brain which was killing her. Bryony thought a local takeaway worker had poisoned her food with tapeworm eggs.
In the midst of her psychosis in 2017, she threatened to kill the man if he didn’t admit to drugging her and put a match through the door of the takeaway.
Bryony was arrested for malicious communication and attempted arson and placed on remand in the mental-health wing of HMP Styal in Cheshire.
Warning: This story contains references to self-harm
Once in prison, Bryony said she was “so depressed” that she self-harmed for the first-time.
Bryony suffered mental health problems at the time she was held in prison
“I couldn’t see any other option,” she said.
“It was basically a way to cope with my surroundings.
“When you’re psychotic and depressed, being locked away in a cell is one of the worst things you can do to someone.”
Prisoner ‘tried to disembowel himself’
The extent to which mentally unwell prisoners are going to hurt themselves has been revealed in a new report seen exclusively by Sky News.
And there are concerns the problem is being worsened by people with mental health problems being held in prisons for too long before they are transferred to psychiatric hospitals.
The report, from chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor, says some mentally unwell prisoners are “so driven to harming themselves they have… removed teeth or maimed themselves to the point of exposing their own intestines, frequently causing life-changing injuries”.
Mr Taylor told Sky News: “We came across a case where a prisoner was, in effect, attempting to disembowel himself.”
Despite these shocking examples, some prisoners are waiting more than a year to be transferred to psychiatric hospitals.
The chief inspector of prisons’ report says inmates are suffering life-changing injuries from self-harm. File pic: PA
NHS guidance says the time between the identification of the need for hospital admission and the transfer to hospital should take no more than 28 days. For those with an urgent need, the transfer should take place faster.
Mr Taylor said this is not happening in 85% of cases – and the average wait time is almost three months.
Prison officers receive limited training in mental health and risk being injured in their interactions with unwell prisoners.
Therefore, many unwell prisoners who are dangerous or difficult to manage end up in solitary confinement for long periods, worsening their condition.
Latest figures show there was a 17% increase in the rate of self-harm incidents among prisoners in England and Wales in the year to June 2023 – with a record level for female inmates.
The Ministry of Justice said there were “notable differences in self-harm trends by gender” – as the rate in female prisons increased “considerably by 63% to a new peak (6,213 incidents per 1,000 prisoners)”, compared to a rise of 3% in male prisons (555 incidents per 1,000 prisoners).
‘She was suffering, really suffering’
Sarah Reed had schizophrenia and was sent to HMP Holloway in 2015.
She was sent to the prison for psychiatric reports to be obtained to confirm whether she was fit to stand trial for an alleged assault, which occurred while she was sectioned as a patient at a psychiatric hospital.
Sarah Reed died after ‘unacceptable delays in psychiatric assessment’
In prison, Sarah was taken off her antipsychotic medication and placed in segregation, where her health rapidly declined.
Sarah’s mother Marilyn Reed told Sky News: “She kept saying ‘mum, I need my meds, I can’t sleep’. She also had these two black eyes. She was suffering, really suffering.
“The last thing she said to me was ‘get me out of here’.”
On 11 January 2016, Sarah was found unresponsive in her cell.
An inquest jury concluded unacceptable delays in psychiatric assessment and failures in care contributed to her death.
A court heard how she spent her final days in a filthy cell, kept in virtual isolation with no visits or telephone calls to family.
The prison closed in July 2016.
Marilyn Reed spoke to Sky News about the death of her daughter Sarah
According to the chief inspector for prisons, there are two reasons for the long delays in transferring acutely mentally unwell prisoners to mental health facilities: bureaucracy and the lack of beds in psychiatric facilities.
Latest NHS figures show 90.5% of overnight beds reserved for mental illness are occupied.
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While there are long delays in transferring prisoners to hospital, Mr Taylor says he has concerns about the way prisons are used “as an alternative to a hospital bed”.
Prisons continue to be used “as a place of safety”, which means people can be remanded in custody during a mental health crisis solely because there are no available hospital places.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor
Mr Taylor described hearing about a woman who had deliberately jumped in front of traffic four times in the hope that it would end her life. The woman was arrested for a public order offence and remanded in prison.
The draft of the Mental Health Bill sought to remove the use of prison as a place of safety and to reform the Bail Act to prevent courts from remanding defendants for their own protection, solely for mental health reasons.
The bill also proposed a statutory time limit of 28 days to complete transfers from prisons to hospital.
However, the bill was not included in the King’s Speech in November 2023, meaning that there will be no legislative reform of the Mental Health Act.
Sky’s Alice Porter spoke to Bryony
Prison ‘made illness 10 times worse’
Bryony spent six months in prison before appearing in court where she was given a hospital order and transferred to a mental health facility.
There she was given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and began treatment.
“I started to get better straight away,” she said.
“I don’t know if getting arrested and getting sent to prison was the right response.
“I think perhaps it might have been more beneficial if I’d have been taken straight to hospital instead of prison.
“I’ve never seen people so ill before. And prison just made that illness 10 times worse.”
A government spokesperson said: “Offenders are entitled to access mental health support in prison, where they are also helped to get off drugs and into rehabilitation.
“NHS England is investing in post-custody care to help prison leavers access their community-based health services – helping to reduce reoffending, cut crime and protect the public.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
It has become almost impossible to book a driving test on the government website due to bots on the booking system, driving instructors have told Sky News.
The only official way to book a practical car driving test is through the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) website.
New test slots are released by the DVSA at 6am every Monday, but “no matter how fast I am, there’s nothing available”, said Aman Sanghera, a driving instructor based in west London.
Driving instructor Aman Sanghera wants ‘stronger oversight and regulation’ from the DVSA
When asked about the cause, she said: “All of the tests are taken by bots, they are definitely taking over the booking system.”
In this context, bots are automated software designed to mimic human behaviour and programmed to carry out actions like searching for and reserving driving test appointments on the official government website much faster than humans can.
Individuals and companies use bots to block-book driving test slots and then resell them at a profit, which is not illegal, although it is a violation of the DVSA’s terms of use.
Recent data shows the DVSA has closed over 800 business accounts for misuse of its booking service in the past two years.
It takes five months on average for a test in England – unless you pay a middleman
Ms Sanghera, who has been in the trade for over a decade, said the usage of bots started a few months ago “but is now getting out of hand”.
She said: “I’ve actually heard about driving instructors being approached by certain individuals to then take on their IDs to log in and to run this scam.
“I struggle to actually book a test for my students, which means that by the time my students are logging in, they’ve got no chance.”
Driving instructors can book driving tests on behalf of their pupils using a dedicated service, allowing them to bypass the general queue and potentially secure test slots more efficiently.
As a result, Ms Sanghera said students are “forced to go to third-party sites” to secure “the same test dates which are then available later on during the day at a premium rate of like £200-£300”.
She added: “Given that the DVSA is a government-regulated body, one would expect a more robust and fair system to ensure affordability and accessibility for all candidates.”
The long waiting lists and high demand for tests has led some to take advantage
The standard test fee is £62, offered by the DVSA, which is responsible for carrying out driving tests in Great Britain.
The biggest concern for the driving instructors Sky News has spoken to, including Ms Sanghera, is “the fact that students are being exploited”.
When Ahmed Ali struggled to find a practical test on the DVSA website, he turned to third-party sites – a decision he now regrets.
Ahmed Ali started looking for a test two years ago
He said: “I’ve spent about £650 on driving tests, and I’ve sat zero tests. I’ve given all this money to third-parties that look for cancellations so they could try to get you a faster test.”
But the 20-year-old said that despite making the payments, he “didn’t hear back from them again”, which is illegal.
“When you lose all that money, you get to a point where you can’t really afford to find another driving test,” he said.
“I just feel very frustrated because I’ve spent all this money, all this time into driving, and I haven’t sat a single driving test.”
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The DVSA urged applicants to only book tests via the official Gov.uk website and told Sky News it “deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly”.
“These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing,” it said.
From Tuesday, the DVSA will require learner drivers to provide 10 full working days’ notice to change or cancel their car driving test without losing the test fee, up from the current three days.
Also part of the DVSA’s crackdown to reduce waiting times is a consultation expected to launch in spring 2025 “to streamline the driving test booking process” and “tighten terms and conditions”.
The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running.
Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.
The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.
Read more: Thousands of jobs at risk as British Steel consults unions over closure
The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.
The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.
The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.
These steel workers could soon be out of work
However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.
Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.
However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.
They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.
The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.
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Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.
“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”
British Steel declined to comment.
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