Transgender Prisoner Found Dead In Jail Cell

A transgender inmate serving life in a maximum security men's prison for attempted murder has been found dead.

Joanne Latham, 38, was discovered unresponsive in her cell at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.

She was found hanging in the early hours of Friday morning, it is understood.

Staff and paramedics tried to resuscitate her but she was pronounced dead at 6.20am.

Latham, formerly known as Edward, is believed to have identified herself as female since August.

She is the second transgender woman to die in a men's prison in recent weeks.

Vicky Thompson, 21, was found dead at HMP Leeds in November after telling her partner she wanted to be transferred to a women's prison.

Latham was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 for an attempted murder.

She had since received further life terms for attempted murders of a HMP Frankland prisoner in 2007 and of a fellow patient at Rampton secure hospital in 2011.

A prison service spokeswoman said there would be an investigation by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman into Latham's death.