Prisoner’s family heard about his suicide from inmates with illicit phones

The family of a prisoner who took his own life were told what had happened by other inmates using illicit mobile phones, a report has said.

Rocky Stenning, 26, was found dead in his cell at Chelmsford Prison on July 19 last year, just nine days after he arrived.

A jury inquest, returning a narrative conclusion, found that a failure to assess his risk of self-harm and suicide contributed to his death in prison.

The report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman described how distressing it had been for Mr Stenning’s family to find out about his death from other prisoners.

It read: ‘This was very distressing for his family and we consider that the prison needs to do more to prevent prisoners gaining access to mobile phones.’

The report recommended that the jail’s governor ‘should review the local security strategy and ensure that everything possible is being done to prevent mobile phones entering the prison’.

It further recommended that the prison should produce ‘clear guidance about procedures for identifying prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm and for managing and supporting them’.

Mr Stenning was described by his loved-ones as a ‘loyal, funny, caring boy who loved his family and friends’.

He was the 12th person to die at Chelmsford Prison since July 2015, the report said.

There have been four further deaths since then.

A Prison Service spokesman said the jail has recruited an extra 60 officers in the last year to give staff ‘more time to provide dedicated support to every prisoner’.

It has also provided ‘specialist training for staff to help them identify, monitor and support vulnerable offenders’.

It continued: ‘We will study the recommendations of the coroner and the Prisons Ombudsman to see what further steps can be taken to better support vulnerable prisoners.’