Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether there has been a decrease in the rates of self-harm, assault and suicide in prisons since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions at the end of March 2022.

The following tables show the rates of self-harm, assault and self-inflicted deaths in prisons.

For deaths the rate covers 12 monthly data to March for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. For self-harm and assaults this covers 9 months for April to December (latest available) for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Table 1; Rate of self-inflicted deaths per 1,000 prisoners, England and Wales¹, April 2019 to March 2023

(1) Figures include incidents at HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centres and during contracted out escorts, but exclude incidents at Medway STC

(2) All classifications of deaths remain provisional until confirmed at inquest.

Data Sources and Quality

These figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database. As classification of deaths may change following inquest or as new information emerges, numbers may change from time to time.

Table 2; Rate of self-harm and assault incidents per 1,000 prisoners^1,2, England and Wales, April 2019 to December 2022³

(1) Figures include incidents at HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centres and during contracted out escorts, but exclude incidents at Medway STC.

(2) Figures exclude incidents occurring within the youth estate. The youth estate includes incidents occurring within Cookham Wood, Werrington and Wetherby, as well as the youth wing at Feltham and Parc. Figures for incidents occurring within the youth estate are published within the ‘Safety in the children and young people secure estate’ statistics bulletin via the following link - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/safety-in-the-youth-secure-estate-bulletin

(3) The rates are based on the number of incidents and average prison population for the 9 months from April to December each year.

(4) In prisons, as in the community, it is not possible to count self-harm incidents with absolute accuracy. In prison custody, however, such incidents are more likely to be detected and counted. Care needs to be taken when comparing figures shown here with other sources where data may be less complete.

Data Sources and Quality

These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.