A record number of people killed themselves in prisons in England and Wales in 2016, official figures show, according to Independent.co.uk.

There were 354 deaths behind bars in last year, including 119 which were apparently suicides.

Self-harm incidents jumped by 23 per cent to 37,784 — nearly 7,000 more than were recorded in the previous year.

There were 25,049 assaults in the 12 months to September — a rise of 31 per cent.

Of those, 18,510 were prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, up 28 per cent from the previous year.

Assaults on staff also rose 40 per cent to 6,430. Of those, 761 were serious.

The statistics, released by the Ministry of Justice, underline the scale of the task facing the Government as it attempts to address prison crisis.