Investigation after transgender prisoner from Liverpool dies in jail

An independent investigation has been launched after a transgender prisoner from Liverpool facing an attempted murder charge died in jail

Published 5th Jan 2017

An independent investigation has been launched after a transgender prisoner from Liverpool facing an attempted murder charge died in jail

49 year old Jenny Swift had been placed in HMP Doncaster - which is a men's prison, following an attack on a man in November

The Ministry of Justice say Jenny, who was previously known as Jonathan, was found responsive in her cell following a suspected suicide attempt last Friday

Staff and paramedics attempted CPR but she was later pronounced dead.

She'd been in jail after a 26 year old was stabbed multiple times during an assault in November and later died.

Police had been consulting with the CPS about upgrading the charge Jenny was facing to murder.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will now look into the case

In a statement the Ministry of Justice said;

“We have announced a major shake-up of the prison system with 2,500 extra prisons officers and new security measures to help make prisons places of safety and reform.

"Self-inflicted deaths are a tragedy and mental health in custody is taken extremely seriously. We have a range of measures already in place to help support prisoners suffering from these issues.

"But we recognise more can be done. That is why we have 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.”