BBC Documentaries

Dead Behind Bars (2014x93)

: 24, 2014

Documentary chronicling the lives and deaths of some of the 80 young people who have killed themselves in British prisons in the last ten years. It tells the stories of three of these young people, looking at the flaws in the system and the lapses in care that contributed to their deaths. Adam Rushton was 20 when he hanged himself from the bars of his bunk bed in HMYOI Brinsford in 2009. Ryan Clark was just 17 when he took his own life in the prison cell where he was on remand and 17-year-old Jake Hardy, who couldn't cope with life inside, was severely bullied and would cry during visits from his mum, took his own life in January 2012. Through their stories, the film explores the experiences of the children and young people we lock up and discovers why some of them take their own lives.