Deaths of offenders in the community 2015 to 2016 annual statistics bulletin
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Deaths of Offenders in the Community statistics. Death of offenders in the community covers deaths of offenders supervised in the community by the probation service in England and Wales.

Deaths of Offenders in the 
Community 2015/16 
Annual Statistics Bulletin 
England and Wales 
 
 
 
 
 
Ministry of Justice  
Statistics bulletin 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
27th October 2016 
 

 
 
- 2 - 
Contents  
 
Introduction .......................................................................................................... - 3 - 
 
Release Schedule ................................................................................................ - 5 - 
 
Key findings .......................................................................................................... - 6 - 
 
Commentary ......................................................................................................... - 7 - 
 
References ..........................................................................................................- 12 - 
 
List of tables and figures .....................................................................................- 13 - 
 
Glossary ..............................................................................................................- 14 - 
 
Categorisation of Deaths .....................................................................................- 15 - 
 
Data Sources and Data Quality ...........................................................................- 17 - 
 
Explanatory notes ...............................................................................................- 17 - 
 
Contact points .....................................................................................................- 18 - 
 
 
 

 
 
- 3 - 
Introduction 
 
Deaths of Offenders in the Community statistics cover deaths of offenders in England and 
Wales that occurred while under probation supervision during the time they were:  
 
serving their court order sentences in the community (including community orders, 
suspended sentence orders) 
 
on post-release supervision after completion of a custodial sentence. 
 
This publication represents the first time these figures have been published by the National 
Offender Management Service (NOMS), covering the period from 2010/11 to 2015/16 by 
financial year. Subsequent publications will continue on an annual basis. 
 
Every death is a tragedy. Although this publication concerns statistics, the incidents 
described in this report are, by their nature, tragic and distressing to the families and friends 
of offenders, and to staff.  
 
 
Users and uses of these statistics 
 
These figures refer to deaths of offenders occurring in the general public, with the possible 
exception of the small numbers of cases occurring to those residing in approved premises. 
Approved premises deaths are included in this publication, with figures broken down 
separately also. Offenders under supervision in the community (other than, to an extent, 
those occurring in approved premises) are not in the care of NOMS in the way they are 
when in custody. The influence probation officers have on offenders, in terms of their health 
and well-being, cannot be compared meaningfully to the influence staff working in prison 
have in relation to deaths in custody. As such, the ability that NOMS has to intervene or 
influence the likelihood of these deaths occurring is limited, and the responsibility and 
accountability that can be held is inherently different to deaths occurring in prison custody.  
 
Deaths in custody statistics are published separately in Safety in Custody1. There is no 
comparison that can be made between these sets of figures and any attempt to compare 
these figures would be not be meaningful.  
 
The statistics included in this publication have a wide range of uses, and this report adds to 
the body of learning in this area. It supports work to help identify possible means to reduce 
the risk of such tragedies occurring in future, meeting a broad spectrum of user needs as 
shown below: 
                                                 
1 Safety in Custody Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics 

 
 
- 4 - 
 
User 
Summary of main statistical needs 
MOJ Ministers 
Use the statistics to monitor the safety and wellbeing of the 
offenders in the community; and to assess policy impacts (e.g. 
changes to managing vulnerable offenders) 
MPs and House of 
Lords 
Statistics may be used to answer parliamentary questions  
Monitoring and 
Accountability 
E.g. Justice Select Committee. Deaths of Offenders in the 
Community may be used as a primary data source for monitoring 
and for public accountability. 
Policy teams 
Statistics are used to inform policy development, to monitor 
impact of changes over time and to consider future changes and 
their impact on the system 
Agencies 
responsible for 
offender 
management 
Current and historical administrative data are used to support 
performance management information at national and local levels 
to complement their understanding of the current picture and 
trends over time 
Academia, students 
and businesses 
Used as a source of statistics for research purposes and to 
support lectures, presentations and conferences 
Journalists 
Used as a compendium of data on deaths of offenders in the 
community so that an accurate and coherent story can be told on 
rehabilitation and events occurring to offenders in the community 
Voluntary sector 
Data may be used to monitor trends of the safety and wellbeing of 
offenders, to reuse the data in their own briefing and research 
papers and to inform policy work and responses to consultations. 
General public 
Data may be used to respond to ad-hoc requests made under the 
Freedom of Information Act.  
 
NOMS regularly receives requests for statistics for more recent date periods than those 
covered in published statistics. In accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, 
NOMS is unable to release figures for periods in advance of those published in Official 
Statistics publications. Furthermore, the figures appearing in this publication are received by 
NOMS in annual returns during August and September of each year, meaning the 
publication date is the earliest that collated figures for the financial year are held and 
available for internal use also, meaning these figures are the most timely available held data. 
 
Related publications 
 
This bulletin is published alongside other inter-related bulletins: 
  
Safety in Custody Statistics Quarterly Bulletin2: This covers deaths, assaults and self-harm 
occurring in prison custody. Although death in custody statistics will be published on the 
same day as deaths of offenders in the community, no attempt to compare these figures 
would be meaningful and such comparisons should not be made.  
 
Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Bulletin3: This provides key statistics relating to 
offenders who are in prison or under Probation Service supervision. It covers flows into 
                                                 
2 Safety in Custody Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics  
3 Offender Management Statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-
quarterly  

 
 
- 5 - 
these services (receptions into prison or probation starts) and flows out (discharges from 
prison or probation terminations) as well as the caseload of both services at specific points in 
time. 
 
Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly4: This provides proven re-offending figures for 
offenders who were released from custody, received a non-custodial conviction at court, 
received a caution or received a reprimand or warning. 
 
Community Performance Management Information release5: A quarterly release of 
performance management information for the National Probation Service (NPS), Community 
Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). 
 
Multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) annual report6: Presents statistics on 
the number of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) eligible offenders in 
England and Wales, and information related to these offenders. 
 
Taken together, these publications present users with a more coherent overview of offender 
management, re-offending among both adults and young people and the safety of offenders 
whilst in prison custody. 
 
 
Release Schedule 
 
This bulletin was published on 27 October 2016, and includes statistics covering financial 
year periods from 2010/11 to 2015/16 for deaths of offenders in the community. 2010/11 is 
the earliest period for which data are held across probation. As such, this represents the 
complete available time series.  
 
Financial year figures are collected on an annual basis during August and September of 
each year, and collated for publication during October. The next publication of Deaths of 
Offenders in the Community statistics is scheduled to be published on 26 October 2017, 
adding figures for the financial year 2016/17. 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
4 Proven Reoffending Statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics  
5 Community Performance MI: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-performance-quarterly-
management-information-release 
6 Multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) annual reports 
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/multi-agency-public-protection-arrangements-mappa-annual-reports 

 
 
- 6 - 
Key findings 
 
Table 1: Deaths of offenders in the community by apparent cause1, England and 
Wales 
 
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/162
Males and Females
704
653
634
560
557
725
Self-inflicted
148
162
190
189
189
264
Natural Causes
238
222
240
214
197
235
Homicide
27
28
28
17
14
22
Accident
68
49
49
37
48
68
Other
31
42
29
25
15
11
Unclassified3
192
150
98
78
94
125
 
(1) Apparent cause is as reported in annual returns and has not been independently verified 
(2) The Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) was introduced on 1 February 2015 and corresponded with an 
increase in the number of offenders on post-release supervision. Caution should be used when comparing with 
earlier periods. 
 
 
 
 
(3) Unclassified deaths refer to those deaths for which a cause was unknown at the time of reporting.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In 2015/16, there were 725 deaths of offenders in the community, a 30% increase 
from 557 deaths in the previous year. These deaths comprise of: 
o 264 self-inflicted deaths, up 40% from 189 in 2014/15; 
o 235 deaths due to natural causes, up 19% from 197 in 2014/15; 
o 68 accidental deaths, up 42% from 48 in 2014/15; 
o 22 apparent homicides, up7 from 14 in 2014/15; 
o 11 other deaths8; 
o 125 deaths which remain unclassified8. 
 
 
Self-inflicted death was the predominant classification of deaths in the Community 
Rehabilitation Companies in 2015/16 (41%), while natural cause deaths predominate 
in the National Probation Service (43%).  
o This is consistent with expectation based on the differing age distributions of 
these offenders. 
 
 
296 of the deaths in 2015/16 were accounted for by offenders on post-release 
supervision, up 73% from 171 in the previous year. This increase in deaths of 
offenders during post-release supervision from the previous year accounts for around 
75% of the overall increase of deaths of offenders in the community on the previous 
year.  
o This increase corresponds with the introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation 
Act (ORA) on 1 February 2015, and the corresponding large increase in the 
number of offenders on post-release supervision in 2015/16. 
                                                 
7 Percentage comparisons for homicides are not presented due to low numbers. 
8 Comparisons are not meaningful for ‘other’ and ‘unclassified’ deaths, as what these comprise of will vary. 
 

 
 
- 7 - 
Commentary 
Deaths of offenders in the community is defined as any death of an offender that occurred 
while under probation supervision during the time they were:  
 
serving their court order sentences in the community (including community orders, 
suspended sentence orders 
 
on post-release supervision after completion of a custodial sentence. 
 
Deaths of offenders supervised by the probation services prior to release from prison 
custody (pre-release supervision) are not included as part of this publication. These are 
deaths in custody, published separately as National Statistics in the Safety in Custody 
statistics bulletin9.  
 
Statistics in this publication are based on annual returns from probation providers but may 
not always capture all offenders that died during supervision in the community. The death of 
an offender may only come to light when they are informed by third parties such as the 
police, the medical profession or friends and family of the deceased. At the time of reporting, 
probation staff may not have sufficient information regarding the circumstances of the death 
to assign an apparent cause. And results of any investigations or inquests following the 
death are not always circulated back to the probation providers. As such, between 14% and 
27% of deaths remain unclassified in each year between 2010/11 to 2015/16, and these are 
unlikely to be subsequently updated. Accordingly, caution is advised in comparison of 
categories of deaths across time. 
 
The main responsibilities of offender managers in the community are to assess, supervise 
and rehabilitate offenders. While they can encourage offenders to address issues affecting 
their health and wellbeing, their ability to manage the health of the offender are more limited 
than those provided by staff in the prisons. Offenders in the community have a greater 
responsibility for their own healthcare.  
 
 
All Deaths 
 
There were 725 deaths of offenders in the community in 2015/16, a 30% increase from 557 
in the previous year.  
 
Around 75% of this increase is due to an increase in deaths of offenders under post-release 
supervision, which increased from 171 in 2014/15 to 296 in 2015/16, thus accounting for 125 
of the 168 additional deaths overall in 2015/16 compared to the previous year.  
 
This increase corresponds with the introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) on 
1 February 2015, and the corresponding substantial increase in the number of offenders on 
post-release supervision in 2015/16. Under ORA, all offenders given custodial sentences are 
now subject to a minimum of 12 months supervision in the community upon release from 
prison. This consists of a period spent on licence, and, depending on the length of custodial 
                                                 
9 Deaths in custody are published in the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin on a quarterly basis at 
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics. Figures should not be compared between 
these two publications as deaths of offenders in the community occur while part of the general population, and 
the responsibility of NOMS differs accordingly. 

 
 
- 8 - 
sentence, a period on post-sentence supervision. Previously only adults sentenced to over 
12 months in custody and all young offenders were subject to statutory supervision. 
 
Figure 1: Death of offenders in the community and deaths occurring during post-
release supervision, England and Wales  
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
Number of deaths
Total deaths
Post-release deaths
ORA
 
The Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) was introduced on 1 February 2015 and corresponded with an 
increase in the number of offenders on post-release supervision. Caution should be used when 
comparing periods prior to and after the introduction.  
 
 
The introduction of the ORA resulted in a sizeable increase in the caseload of offenders 
under post-release supervision, from 39,669 as at 31 March 2015 to 64,441 as at 31 March 
201610. This 62% year on year increase in caseload of offenders on post-release 
supervision, coinciding with the introduction of ORA, provides context to the corresponding 
increase of deaths among those on post-release supervision, and the majority of the 
increase of deaths of offenders in the community overall. 
 
The number of offenders who died in the community while on probation supervision reduced 
year on year between 2010/11 to 2013/14, from 704 to 560 deaths (a drop of 20%). The 
figure remained relatively stable in 2014/15 with 557 deaths, followed by the aforementioned 
notable increase to 725 in 2015/16. Some caution is advised in viewing these comparisons 
due to possible underreporting resulting from the changes to the delivery of probation in 
June 2014. As part of the Transforming Rehabilitation reform programme, Probation Trusts 
were replaced by the National Probation Service (NPS), which manages the most high-risk 
offenders across seven divisions; and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), 
who manage medium and low-risk offenders. Figures for 2014/15 would include some 
deaths that occurred when the Probation Trusts existed but were reported by the NPS or 
CRCs that had been allocated responsibility for these offenders prior to their deaths. 
 
As seen in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the trend in the deaths of offenders in the community 
follows a similar pattern to the overall caseload of offenders supervised in the community at 
the end of each financial year, as published in the Offender Management Statistics 
Quarterly11. The combined caseload of all court orders (including community orders and 
                                                 
10 Caseload of offenders under post-release supervision from the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly  
11 Probation caseload statistics are published in the Offender management statistics quarterly at 
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly  

 
 
- 9 - 
suspended sentence orders) and post-release supervision – largely representing the overall 
offender population from which deaths in this publication are concerned – showed an 
increase of 20% from 149,604 as at 31 March 2015 to 180,050 as at 31 March 2016. As 
previously noted, due to the introduction of ORA, most of this increase was among caseload 
of post-release supervision (62% year on year caseload increase), compared to only 5% 
year on year caseload increase of court orders from 31 March 2015 to 31 March 2016.  
 
Figure 2: Number of offenders supervised by the probation service at the end period 
by type, England Wales 
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
Number of deaths
Total deaths
Post-release deaths
ORA
 
Some caution should be used when considering caseload figures as offenders may appear both within 
the caseload figures of court orders and post-release supervision. In addition, the Offender 
Rehabilitation Act (ORA) was introduced on 1 February 2015 and corresponded with an increase in the 
number of offenders on post-release supervision. Caution should be used when comparing periods prior 
to and after the introduction. 
 
 
No change was seen in the proportional split of deaths of offenders in the community from 
2014/15 to 2015/16 between the NPS and CRCs. While NPS represent around a quarter of 
the caseload of court orders and post-release supervision, they account for around a third of 
deaths of offenders in the community.  
 
Some caution should be used when considering caseload figures in conjunction with deaths. 
Offenders may appear both within the caseload figures of court orders (including community 
orders and suspended sentence orders) and post-release supervision. Furthermore, 
published caseload figures are snapshots of moments in time, which may not fully represent 
the overall caseload during the 12 month periods for which deaths are presented in this 
publication. Accordingly rates of deaths have not been calculated, and comparisons of 
trends in caseload to trends in deaths of offenders in the community should be seen as 
indicative. However, these changes to overall probation caseload figures can be viewed as 
context to the corresponding changes in deaths across the time series. This suggests that 
the overall trend of both the probation caseload and the number of deaths of offenders in the 
community follow a similar trend.  
 
 
Apparent cause of death 
 
Figure 3 overleaf shows the breakdown of classification of deaths across the available time 
series.  

 
 
- 10 - 
 
There were 22 apparent homicides in 2015/16, 6 in NPS and 16 in CRCs. Homicides ranged 
from 14 to 28 since 2010/11, accounting for 3% of all deaths in the most year, which is 
broadly consistent with previous years.   
 
Figure 3: Death of offenders in the community by apparent cause, England and 
Wales 
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
Number of deaths
Self-inflicted
Natural Causes
Homicide
Accident
Other
ORA
 
The Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) was introduced on 1 February 2015 and corresponded with an 
increase in the number of offenders on post-release supervision. Caution should be used when 
comparing periods prior to and after the introduction.  
 
There were 235 natural cause deaths in 2015/16, a 19% increase compared to 2014/15. 
Deaths due to natural causes have accounted for around a third of all deaths in the 
community across the time series, although natural cause deaths account for a higher 
proportion of all deaths of offenders supervised by NPS (43% in 2015/16) compared to 
CRCs (27% in 2015/16). This is consistent with expectation based on the age of offenders. 
For 2015/16, around 38% of offenders supervised by NPS were aged 50 or over when they 
died. Offenders in this age group are more likely to die of natural causes than any other 
reason. In contrast, 19% of offenders supervised by the CRCs were aged 50 or over when 
they died. 
 
There were 264 self-inflicted deaths in 2015/16, a 40% increase since 2014/15. Despite a 
fall in overall deaths between 2010/11 to 2012/13, self-inflicted deaths rose from 148 deaths 
in 2010/11 to 190 in 2012/13. The number of self-inflicted deaths remained stable until 
2014/15, prior to the increase seen in 2015/16. This is the only year in the time series where 
the number of self-inflicted deaths is higher than those due to natural causes. Accordingly, 
the proportion of deaths that were self-inflicted has also gradually increased over time, rising 
from 21% in 2010/11 to 36% in 2015/16. 
 
The proportion of all deaths in the NPS that were self-inflicted for both 2014/15 and 2015/16 
was lower than the proportion of deaths due for natural causes. The opposite is true of the 
CRCs, where self-inflicted deaths account for a higher proportion of deaths than natural 
causes in both years. This is partly reflected by expectation relating to the age of the 
offender at the time of their death.  
 

 
 
- 11 - 
As seen in Figure 4, self-inflicted death was the predominant classification of deaths in the 
CRCs in 2015/16, while natural cause deaths predominate in the NPS.  
 
Figure 4: Relative distribution of deaths by classification in NPS and CRCs, 2015/16 
 
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
NPS
CRCs
Self-inflicted
Natural Causes
Homicide
Accident
Other
Unclassified
 
Note: Caution should be used I comparing percentages of apparent cause of death for CRCs and NPS due to the 
high proportion of deaths that are as yet unclassified.   
 
 
Post-release supervision 
 
There were 296 deaths of offenders under post-release supervision in the community after a 
custodial sentence in 2015/16, representing 41% of all deaths of offenders in the community. 
Although in absolute terms these were evenly split between NPS and CRCs (150 and 146 
deaths respectively), in relative terms these deaths under post-release supervision 
represented 30% of all deaths in the community while supervised by CRCs, but 64% of all 
deaths while supervised by the NPS. The sizeable increase, from 171 deaths in the previous 
financial year, corresponds with the introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA). 
 
The relative distributions of deaths by classification among deaths under post-release 
supervision in NPS and CRCs correspond closely to those seen in deaths of offenders in the 
community in general in 2015/16. These comparisons of distributions of death classifications 
for offenders on post-release supervision and offenders in the community in general have 
remained relatively similar across the time series. Natural cause deaths predominate for 
those supervised by NPS and self-inflicted death was the predominant classification of 
deaths in CRCs in both 2014/15 and 2015/16. 
 
 
Approved Premises 
 
Approved Premises (formerly known as probation/bail hostels) provide accommodation for 
offenders on post-release supervision (released from prison on licence) and those directed 
by the courts to live there as a condition of their court order. Staff provide supervision, 
support and ensure that residents comply with conditions of their licence or court order. 
Some of the deaths while resident in Approved Premises occurred away from the premises. 
 
There were 12 deaths of offenders with residence in Approved Premises in 2015/16. Deaths 
of offenders residing in Approved Premises account for 2% of all deaths of offenders in the 
community in general across the time series, ranging from 9 to 15 deaths a year since 
2010/11. All deaths of offenders residing in Approved Premises across the time series were 
male, barring one female in 2012/13, who died of natural causes. With greater volatility due 
to low numbers, comparisons across time would not be meaningful. 

 
 
- 12 - 
References 
 
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) 
 
Fatal Incident reports (http://www.ppo.gov.uk/document/fii-report/) 
 
Annual reports (http://www.ppo.gov.uk/document/annual-reports/) 
 
World Health Organisation (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 
 
ICD 10 (http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2010/en) 
 
Ministry of Justice/NOMS 
 
Prison and Probation Statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-
of-justice/about/statistics 
 
 
 

 
 
- 13 - 
List of tables and figures 
 
This is a list of annual Deaths of Offenders in the Community Statistics tables and figures. 
Figures 1 to 4 are included in this document. The summary tables are available from the 
website12. All tables refer to incidents occurring to offenders in the community in England 
and Wales and for 2010/11 to 2015/16 unless stated otherwise.  
 
 
Table description 
 
 
Deaths of Offenders in the Community – Summary tables 
Table 1 
Deaths of offenders in the community by gender and apparent 
cause 
Table 2 
Deaths of offenders in the community by gender and age band 
Table 3 
Deaths of offenders in the community by gender and ethnic group 
Table 4 
Deaths of offenders during post-release supervision in the 
community after a custodial sentence, by gender and apparent 
cause 
Table 5 
Deaths of offenders in the community by CRC, 2014/15 and 
2015/16 
Table 6 
Deaths of offenders in the community by NPS Division, 2014/15 and 
2015/16 
Table 7 
Deaths of offenders in the community by Probation Trust, 2010/11 
to 2013/14 
Table 8 
Deaths of offenders in the community residing in Approved 
premises by apparent cause 
 
 
Deaths of Offenders in the Community – Figures 
Figure 1 
Death of offenders in the community and deaths occurring during 
post-release supervision 
Figure 2 
Number of offenders supervised by the probation service at the end 
period by type 
Figure 3 
Death of offenders in the community by apparent cause 
Figure 4 
Relative distribution of deaths by classification in NPS and CRCs, 
2015/16 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
12 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/death-of-offenders-in-the-community 

 
 
- 14 - 
Glossary 
 
Approved Premises 
Approved premises (formerly known as probation and bail hostels) 
accommodate offenders released from prison on licence, 
offenders directed to live there as part of their sentence (such as a 
requirement of a community order) and those directed to live there 
by the courts as a condition of bail. Their purpose is to provide an 
enhanced level of residential supervision in the community, as 
well as a supportive and structured environment. 
Community 
Rehabilitation 
Company (CRC) 
A series of organisations established on 1 June 2014, responsible 
for the delivery of offender management to medium and lower risk 
offenders in the community. 
Community Order 
Replaced all pre-Criminal Justice Act community sentences for 
adults. Under this order, a number of possible requirements must 
be added, such as supervision, unpaid work and drug treatment. 
Community 
Sentence 
This places the offender under the supervision of the probation 
service and there will be a range of requirements that must be 
completed. 
Licence 
The period in which a prisoner is released from prison to serve the 
remainder of their sentence in the community. Offenders subject 
to post-release licence are required to adhere to specific 
conditions as part of their licence. Conditions for offenders 
released from determinate sentences are set by the 
governor/controller (on behalf of the Secretary of State) from the 
releasing prison for determinate sentences. Where the sentence 
is indeterminate, licence conditions are set by the Parole Board. 
National Probation 
Service (NPS) 
An organisation established on 1 June 2014, responsible for the 
delivery of offender management to higher risk offenders in the 
community. 
Offender 
Rehabilitation Act 
2014 (ORA) 
An Act passed by parliament that made changes to the current 
legislative framework to support these reforms including ensuring 
offenders released from custodial sentences of over 1 day will be 
subject to spend a minimum of 12 months supervision in the 
community, and making available a new ‘Rehabilitation Activity 
Requirement’ as part of a community order or suspended 
sentence order. 
Post-release 
supervision 
Offenders released from prisons after completing their custodial 
sentence are subject to supervision in community. This consists of 
a period spent on licence, and, depending on the length of 
custodial sentence, a period on post-sentence supervision. Prior 
to the Offender Rehabilitation Act, the supervision period would 
just comprise of the licence period.  

 
 
- 15 - 
Post-sentence 
supervision 
Provisions in the Offender Rehabilitation Act created a new 
supervision period to be served by offenders released from 
custodial sentences of more than 1 day but less than 2 years. The 
supervision period will follow the licence period, and tops up the 
licence so that the total period under supervision in the community 
is 12 months. For example, an offender subject to a licence period 
of 4 months would then be subject to a supervision period of 8 
months. The purpose of the post-sentence supervision period is 
the rehabilitation of the offender. As with licence conditions, 
requirements under the supervision period are imposed by the 
Secretary of State. 
Probation Trusts 
Probation Trusts were organisations who managed the delivery of 
probation services to offenders prior to implementation of the 
Offender Rehabilitation Act. Probation Trusts ceased to exist on 
31 May 2014 
Suspended 
sentence order 
A court may give an offender a 'suspended' prison sentence if the 
time they would otherwise spend in prison is under 12 months. 
The offender serve their sentence in the community and comply 
with conditions set out in the order made by the court. These 
conditions can last for up to two years. If the offender breaks 
these conditions, or commits another offence, they will usually 
have to serve the original sentence in prison in addition to the 
sentence they get for the new offence. 
 
Categorisation of Deaths 
 
Each death has been classified as one of the following apparent causes, as allocated at the 
time of reporting based on information held and reported by the probation provider (NPS, 
CRC or Probation Trust) to NOMS: 
 
Accident 
Any death of a person arising from external causes, accidental 
overdose/poisoning and deaths where taking a drug contributed to a 
death but not in fatal amounts. 
Homicide 
Any death of a person at the hands of another (includes murder and 
manslaughter). 
Natural causes 
Any death of a person as a result of a naturally occurring disease 
process. 
Other 
Any death of a person whose death cannot easily be classified as 
natural causes, self-inflicted, accident or homicide. The cause of 
death may never be known even after all of the necessary 
investigations have taken place. 
 
 

 
 
- 16 - 
Self-inflicted 
Any death of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life 
irrespective of intent. 
Unclassified 
Any death where there is insufficient information to make a 
judgement about the cause at the time of reporting. 

 
 
- 17 - 
Data Sources and Data Quality  
 
The data presented in this publication are drawn from manual returns collected annually 
from each National Probation Service (NPS) Division and each Community Rehabilitation 
Companies (CRCs) for 2014/15 and 2015/16, and each Probation Trust prior to this time.  
 
Information relating to deaths of offenders in the community is submitted by probation 
providers. Although it receives close scrutiny, and the data quality is considered to be fit for 
purpose, some subjectivity is involved in allocation of the apparent cause of death, based on 
information available at the time.  
 
Death classification figures in this bulletin are based on reports received by probation staff 
and their interpretation of these reports. These, in many cases, may not be the confirmed 
cause of death, but represent the apparent cause of death at the time deaths were reported 
to NOMS. Because NOMS’ responsibility for the majority of these figures is predominantly in 
relation to the termination of the court order or post-release supervision, further information 
pertaining to the death that may influence subjective assessments of the apparent cause of 
death may not be subsequently reported to NOMS. Therefore, while apparent cause of 
deaths in this bulletin reflects the classification made at the time of reporting, it may not 
reflect the final classification of deaths after inquest. Such reclassifications would not be 
expected to have a notable effect on reported trends. 
 
Data on deaths of residents staying in Approved Premises may include those directed to 
reside there as part of their bail conditions. Where known, deaths of residents released on 
bail have been removed from the figures. Some deaths in Approved Premises occur away 
from the premises, as such it should not be inferred that all of such deaths were either 
directly supervised or occurring on the premises themselves. 
 
Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the information collected 
is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. While the figures 
shown have been checked as far as possible, they should be regarded as approximate and 
not necessarily accurate to the last whole number shown in the tables.  
 
 
Explanatory notes  
 
The statistics in this bulletin relate to deaths of offenders in the community in England and 
Wales.  
 
Symbols and conventions  
The following symbols have been used throughout the tables in this bulletin:  
 
..  
Not available  
0  
Nil or less than half the final digit shown  
-  
Not applicable  
(p)  Provisional data  
(r)  Revised data  
 
 

 
 
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Contact points  
 
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:  
 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx  
 
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to:  
 
Kate Shaw 
Performance and Analysis Group  
NOMS Agency  
Clive House  
70 Petty France 
London  
SW1H 9EX  
 
General enquiries about the statistical work of the Ministry of Justice can be e-mailed to: 
xxx@xxx.xx  
 
General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from 
http://statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system 
 
 
Ministry of Justice publishes data relating to offender management in England and Wales. 
Equivalent statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found at:  
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice 
http://www.sps.gov.uk/FreedomofInformation/PrisonerDeaths.aspx 
http://www.dojni.gov.uk/index/statistics-research/stats-research-publications.htm 
 
 
Alternative formats are available on request from xxx@xxx.xx 
© Crown copyright. Produced by the Ministry of Justice.