Two prisoners killed themselves in custody in HMP Wandsworth this year, figures released by the Howard League for Penal Reform show.

This year prisons have experienced the highest number of prisoner suicides in England and Wales since records began in 1978, with 102 inmates taking their lives so far in 2016, a 34 per cent rise since 2013.

There were six in Woodhill and four each in Manchester, Humber, Leeds, Bristol and Bedford.

Although prisoner suicides in Wandsworth prison have decreased since 2013, the national average has continued to rise.

The Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform Francis Crook has said the rate of suicides in prisons has reached “epidemic proportions”.

She said: “No one should be so desperate while in the care of the state that they take their own life, and yet every three days a family is told that a loved one has died behind bars.”

Ms Crook criticised cuts to staff and prison budgets saying they were to blame for prison populations going unchecked which has created a breeding ground for a “toxic mix of violence, death and human misery”.

Together with the Centre for Mental Health, the Howard League’s recommendations to tackle the problem are set out in a new report, ‘Preventing prison suicide’, and Mr Cook is to meet the Secretary of State for Justice Elizabeth Truss today (November 28) to outline the plan.

Ms Crook said: “By taking bold but sensible action to reduce the number of people in prison, we can save lives and prevent more people being swept away into deeper currents of crime and despair.”

There were 30,706 reported incidents of self-harm in prisons in England and Wales in 2015, up 24 per cent on the previous year.

Deputy Chief Executive of Centre for Mental Health Andy Bell said: “Every loss of life through suicide is a tragedy for everyone involved.

“We must recognise that many prisoners are highly vulnerable and that being imprisoned is a traumatic event that can have devastating consequences without the right help and support.”