Overview

• Official figures show assaults on prison staff rose 7% to a record 10,568 in 2024-25.
• Inmate deaths increased by nearly 30% to 401 over the year to June 2025, including an unprecedented seven homicides.
• Self-harm incidents reached 77,898 in the year to March 2025, averaging one every seven minutes.
• HM Inspectorate ratings flagged 22 prisons as in “serious concern” and 59 as of concern or serious concern, the highest combined tally since 2017-18.
• The government has also announced pilots of AI-driven violence prediction, a £900,000 anti-drone fund and plans to add 14,000 new prison places by 2031.