Prisons: Crimes of Violence

(asked on 25th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff took place in each prison in each quarter from 2010 to 2018.


Answered by
 Portrait
Rory Stewart
This question was answered on 30th April 2019

The Government publishes quarterly statistics on violence in prison, and a more detailed annual breakdown, and both are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2018

The relevant link is ‘Assaults in prison custody 2000 to 2018’ and the information can be found in

table 3.15: Assaults on staff by establishment, England and Wales, 2000-2018 and table 3.18: Serious assaults on staff by establishment, England and Wales, 2000-2018

The tables have a breakdown by month and you will need to use + and - , to be able to view these figures.

The Government is taking unprecedented action to improve safety in prisons. We have recruited over 4,700 more prison officers since October 2016, and we now have the greatest number in post since early 2012. The Challenge, Support and Intervention Plan case management process for prisoners at risk of violence has been mandated for all prisons to help staff to manage violent prisoners and those identified as posing a raised risk of being violent.

We are investing an extra £70 million to improve safety, security and decency, and equipping officers with PAVA incapacitant spray and body-worn cameras to help prevent serious harm to staff and prisoners when dealing with violent incidents. We are improving perimeter security and introducing new x-ray scanners, drug-detection dogs and dedicated search teams to address the supply of drugs that we know are fuelling much of the violence in custody. We are confident that these initiatives, together with the many other measures that we are taking to protect our staff, will reduce the level of violence in prisons.

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