Young people are dying in custody because of "bad practice" in prisons, a report has said.
In the Fatally Flawed report, former chief inspector of prisons Lord Ramsbotham said the criminal justice system and community services "have demonstrably let young people down, for all the wrong reasons, for far too long".
Nine children and more than 190 other young people aged 24 and under have died in prisons or secure training centres in the last 10 years, according to campaigners.
The report, which looked at 98 of the deaths, found that in many cases there were communication failures between community agencies and prisons while, in others, the inmates were placed in prisons with unsafe environments and cells.
It added that poor medical care and limited access to therapeutic services in prison also caused problems and some children and young people had been exposed to bullying, segregation or restraint.
The dead were "some of the most disadvantaged in society" and had experienced problems with mental health, self-harm, alcohol and drugs, it said.
Deborah Coles, co-director of the campaign group Inquest, said: "This shocking death toll has been obscured for far too long.
"Working on a daily basis with bereaved families, we see inquest after inquest raising the same issues and, despite promises of change, the deaths continue."
"This report must prompt an independent review as a matter of urgency as there is a pressing need to learn from the failures that cost these young people their lives."
The report comes more than 10 years after 16-year-old Joseph Scholes hanged himself in his cell at Stoke Heath Young Offenders' Institution in Shropshire on March 24 2002.
Yvonne Bailey, Joseph's mother, who has long called for a public inquiry, said she read today's report "with sorrow".
"It is now over a decade since my son Joseph died in fear and distress hanging from the window bars of his squalid cell in a children's prison," she said.
"The deaths of a further nine young boys are devastating evidence that the changes implemented were yet again wholly insufficient to fulfil the duty on the state to protect the right to life of the children it imprisons."
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said that self-inflicted deaths in custody have fallen by about 40% since 2004.
"Young people in custody are some of the most vulnerable and troubled individuals in society and their safety is our highest priority," she added.
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