Safety in custody quarterly bulletin: December 2016
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Safety in Custody. Data on assaults, self-harm and assaults in prisons in England and Wales. Headline figures produced quarterly with more detailed figures produced annually in April.

Published 27 April 2017 
Safety in Custody Statistics Bulletin, England and 
Wales, Deaths in prison custody to March 2017, 
Assaults and Self-Harm to December 2016 
Main Points 
Deaths up 19% 
overall, self-inflicted 
up 11% 
There were 344 deaths in prison custody in the 12 months to 
March 2017, up 54 from the previous year. Three of these were 
homicides, down from 6. There were 113 self-inflicted deaths, up 
11, 10 of which were in the female estate. The rate of self-inflicted 
deaths has more than doubled since 2013.  
Self-harm incidents 
up 24% 
Self-harm reached a record high of 40,161 incidents in the 12 
months to December 2016, up 7,848 from the previous year. The 
number of incidents requiring hospital attendance rose by 21% to 
2,740. 
Assault incidents up 
27% 
Assaults have continued to increase, reaching a record high of 
26,022 incidents in the 12 months to December 2016, up 5,504 
from the previous year. Of these, 3,519 or 14% were serious 
assaults, up 25% from the previous year. In the most recent 
quarter, however, there was a 4% decrease in assault incidents. 
Prisoner-on-prisoner 
assaults up 23% 
There were 19,088 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, up 3,577 from 
the previous year, of which 2,764 or 14% were serious, up 26% 
from the previous year. Prisoner-on-prisoner assaults saw a 5% 
decrease in the latest quarter. 
Assaults on staff up 
38% 
There were 6,844 assaults on staff, up 1,881 from the previous 
year. Serious assaults on staff have trebled since 2012, reaching 
789 in the most recent year, up 26% on the previous period. 
Assaults on staff saw a 5% decrease in the latest quarter. 
Safety in custody statistics cover deaths, self-harm and assaults in prison custody in England and 
Wales, with figures in quarterly summary tables presented on a 12-month rolling basis over a 
10-year time-series. Supplementary annual tables, providing more in-depth statistics on deaths, 
self-harm and assaults on a calendar year basis, underlying data files with pivot tables providing 
lower level granularity, and a guidance technical document are also available alongside this 
bulletin, and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-
statistics 
 
We are changing how our quarterly bulletins look, and would welcome any 
feedback to xxx@xxx.xx 
For other feedback related to the content of this publication, please let us know at 
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- 2 - 
1 Deaths  
Deaths up 19% overall, self-inflicted up 11% 
 
In the 12 months to March 2017, there were 344 deaths in prison custody, up 54 from the previous 
year. Of these, 113 deaths were self-inflicted, up 11 from the previous year. 
Figure 1: Rate of deaths per 1,000 prisoners, 12 months ending March 2008 to 12 months 
ending March 2017, with annualised quarterly rates  
 
In the 12 months to March 2017 there were 344 deaths in prison custody, an increase of 19% 
compared to the previous year, at a rate of 4.0 deaths per 1,000 prisoners. The number and rate 
of deaths are the second highest in the time series. Deaths in the most recent quarter are down 
from the 12 months ending December 2016 but are still the fourth highest on record. Quarterly 
death figures should be considered with caution due to greater volatility and the potential for 
seasonal effects. Long-term trends and more detail are presented in annual tables1. 
There were 113 apparent self-inflicted deaths, up 11% on the previous year. On a rate basis this 
is 1.3 per 1,000 prisoners, over double the rate in 2013. Within the female estate, there were 10 
self-inflicted deaths at a rate of 2.6 per 1,000 prisoners. This is in contrast to the 12-month 
periods between June 2008 and March 2014, when the rate of self-inflicted deaths in the female 
estate did not rise above 1 per 1,000 prisoners. There were 3 apparent homicides, down from 6 
in the previous year. Homicides in prison custody remain relatively rare, accounting for around 
1% of all deaths over the last ten years. 
There were 199 deaths due to natural causes, up 21% from the previous year. Natural-cause 
deaths were at a rate of 2.3 per 1,000 prisoners, up from 1.9 per 1,000 in the previous year. This 
increase in natural-cause deaths is largely explained by the ageing prison population, and is 
responsible for nearly two thirds of the year-on-year rise in deaths overall.  
There were 29 deaths recorded as ‘other’ in the 12 months to March 2017, 24 of which are 
‘awaiting further information’ prior to being classified. Some of the deaths were inconclusive after 
toxicology and post-mortem, meaning classification cannot be arrived at until inquest (which can 
be a considerable time after the death), while others remain awaiting results at the time of 
publication. There has been a particularly high number of deaths awaiting further classification in 
this period. As a result, the number of ‘other’ deaths is not directly comparable with earlier years. 
It is likely the number of deaths of the remaining classifications will be revised upwards once 
classifications have been made. 
                                                 
1 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics 

 
 
- 3 - 
 
2 Self-harm  
Self-harm incidents up 24% 
 
Self-harm continued to increase, reaching a record high of 40,161 incidents, up 7,848 from the 
previous year. Incidents requiring hospital attendance also reached a record high of 2,740. 
Figure 2: Rate of self-harm incidents per 1,000 prisoners, 12 months ending December 
2007 to 12 months ending December 2016, with annualised quarterly rates  
 
In the 12 months to December 2016, there were 40,161 reported incidents of self-harm (a rate of 
471 per 1,000 prisoners), up 24% on the previous year. The number of self-harm incidents 
requiring hospital attendance increased by 21% on the previous year to 2,740 while the 
proportion of incidents that required hospital attendance remain broadly similar at 6.8%. The 
number of self-harm incidents and those requiring hospital attendance are both the highest in the 
time series.  
The annualised quarterly rate has stabilised in the last two quarters following a general rise since 
December 2014. In the most recent quarter, from October to December 2016, self-harm levels 
were the highest on record, with 10,246 incidents of self-harm and 734 incidents requiring 
hospital attendance.  
The number of prisoners who self-harmed was 11,008 (a rate of 129 prisoners per 1,000), up 
16% from the previous year. Those that self-harmed did so, on average, 3.6 times. Greater detail 
on self-harm is presented in the annual self-harm tables2 and at Annex A. 
 
                                                 
2 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics 

 
 
- 4 - 
Figure 3: Rate of self-harm incidents per 1,000 prisoners by gender of establishment, 12 
months ending December 2007 to 12 months ending December 2016 
 
Self-harm trends differ considerably by gender, with a rate of 399 incidents per 1,000 in male 
establishments (with incidents up 30% on the previous year) compared to a rate of 1,987 per 
1,000 in female establishments (an increase of 4% in number of incidents from the previous 
year). Overall there was little change in how prolific self-harmers were in both male and female 
establishments, with an average of 3.3 incidents per self-harming individual in male 
establishments, up slightly from 3.0 in the previous year, and an average of 6.6 incidents per self-
harming individual in female establishments, compared to 6.4 in the previous year.  
Self-harm incidents requiring hospital attendance increased from the previous year in male 
establishments by 24% to 2,605, while female establishments saw a decrease of 15% to 135 
incidents. The proportion of self-harm incidents remained relatively stable at 6.8% in 2016, 
compared to 7.0% in the previous year. The slight decrease is due to the fact that the total 
number of self-harm incidents rose at a higher rate than the number of incidents requiring 
hospital attendance.  
While self-harmers in female establishments were twice as prolific as those in male 
establishments, self-harmers in male establishments had more than four times the proportion of 
self-harm incidents that require hospitalisation (8.0% in male establishments compared to 1.8% in 
female establishments). 
 

 
 
- 5 - 
3 Assaults 
Assault incidents up 27%; prisoner-on-prisoner assaults up 23%; assaults on staff up 38% 
 
Assaults have continued to increase, reaching a record high of 26,022 assault incidents in the 12 
months to December 2016, up 5,504 from the previous year. Of these, 3,519 were serious assaults, 
up 25% from the previous year.  
Figure 4: Rate of assaults overall per 1,000 prisoners by gender of establishment, 12 
months ending December 2007 to 12 months ending December 2016, with annualised 
quarterly rates  
 
In the 12 months to December 2016, there were 26,022 assault incidents (a rate of 305 incidents 
per 1,000 prisoners), an increase of 27% on the previous year, and the highest level in the time 
series. Of these, 3,519 were serious assaults, up 25% on the previous year. Since 2012, serious 
assaults have almost trebled. 
Figure 5: Rate of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults and assaults on staff, 12 months ending 
December 2007 to 12 months ending December 2016, with annualised quarterly rates  
 
 

 
 
- 6 - 
There were 19,088 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in the 12 months to December 2016 (a rate of 
224 per 1,000 prisoners), up 23% on previous year. Of these, 2,764 were serious assaults, up 
26% on the previous year. 
There were 6,844 assaults on staff in the 12 months to December 2016 (a rate of 80 per 1,000 
prisoners), up 38% on the previous year. Of these, 789 were serious assaults, up 26% on the 
previous year. 
The most recent quarter saw a decrease in all types of assaults compared to the three-month 
period from July to September 2016, when all types of assaults were at their highest levels on 
record. Total assaults fell by 4% across this period while prisoner-on-prisoner and assaults on 
staff fell by 5%. This is the first quarter that total assaults have decreased since October to 
December 2014, but should be considered with caution due to potential seasonal effects. Greater 
detail on assaults is presented in the annual assaults tables3 and an Annex B. 
3.1 
Serious assaults 
Serious assaults are those which fall into one or more of the following categories: a sexual 
assault, requires detention in outside hospital as an in-patient; requires medical treatment for 
concussion or internal injuries; or incurs any of the following injuries: a fracture, scald or burn, 
stabbing, crushing, extensive or multiple bruising, black eye, broken nose, lost or broken tooth, 
cuts requiring suturing, bites, temporary or permanent blindness.                                                     
Figure 6: Rate of serious assaults total, serious prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, and serious 
assaults on staff, 12 months ending December 2007 to 12 months ending December 2016, 
with annualised quarterly rates 
  
 
After a prolonged period of stability in the time series, there has been a clear upward trend since 
December 2012 in serious assault incidents of all types. The number of serious assaults and 
serious prisoner-on-prisoner assaults are 2.8 times higher than in 2012, while serious assaults on 
staff have trebled.
                                                 
3 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics 

 
 
- 7 - 
Change to the definition of serious assaults 
In January 2017, the definition of serious assault within HM Prison & Probation Service (known 
as NOMS at the time) was amended. In addition to the existing prerequisites of classifying an 
assault as serious, the amended definition now incorporates the throwing of urine and excrement 
(colloquially known as “potting”) as well spitting where there is the possibility of bodily contact or if 
the assailant is known to have an infectious disease. These assaults have the potential to infect 
victims with diseases and to cause psychological trauma. The definition has been updated to 
reflect operational needs and allow for monitoring of trends in these incidents. 
Recording of the new measure began on 1 April 2017 and reporting will commence in the 
publication on 27 October 2017, covering assault incidents from April to June 2017. To ensure 
comparability, the publication will also to include serious assault figures under the previous 
definition for a period of 12 months. 
 
Addition of self-harm to performance metrics 
From April 2017, self-harm incidents will be monitored as performance metrics and reported in 
the new performance tables. The addition of self-harm incidents as a performance metric and the 
release of additional guidance to support prisons in recording the data may lead to increased 
reporting. The reported statistics and underlying data will be analysed to monitor the impact of the 
changes in reporting practices. 
 
Revisions 
Figures for self-harm and assaults for previous years have been updated following cleansing of 
the data and updates to the processing to ensure a more consistent approach across the time 
series. These changes do not affect trends identified in previous publications. The changes 
include: 
 
Updating the gender of the establishment where establishments were not defaulting to the 
correct genders following re-roles.  
 
Inclusion of additional prisoners and removal of duplicate prisoners in an incident. 
 
Update of prisoner custody status 
 
Populating prisoner date of birth and ethnicity details where they were previously missing. 
 
Updating self-harm incidents requiring hospital attendance 
 
Updating the process for counting individual prisoners in self-harm incidents. For the 12-
month periods ending between December 2004 and September 2013, self-harming 
individuals are counted based on the unique combination of surname and date of birth. 
Starting from the 12 months to December 2013, individuals are counted based on their 
prison number, following the migration of all prisons to the NOMIS administrative system. 
 
 
 

 
 
- 8 - 
Further Information 
Accompanying files 
As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release: 
 
A technical guide providing further information on how the data are collected and 
processed, as well as information on the revisions policy and legislation relevant to 
sentencing trends and background on the functioning of the criminal justice system. 
 
A set of summary tables for the latest quarter, and annual tables for the latest calendar 
year. 
 
Underlying data files with pivot tables, giving lower level granularity. 
 
National Statistics status 
National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of 
trustworthiness, quality and public value. 
All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official 
Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the Authority’s 
regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of 
Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate. 
It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for 
National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the 
appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National 
Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and 
reinstated when standards are restored. 
 
Contact 
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:  
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx  
Email: xxx@xxx.xx  
 
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to:  
Kate Shaw 
Prison and Probation Analytical Services  
Ministry of Justice 
Clive House  
70 Petty France 
London  
SW1H 9EX  
 
Next update: 27 July 2017 
URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics  
 
© Crown copyright 
Produced by the Ministry of Justice. 
Alternative formats are available on request from xxx@xxx.xx 
 

 
 
- 9 - 
Annex A - Self-harm annual tables key findings 
 
Age 
 
In 2016, prisoners aged 18-20 were the most likely to self-harm, with 953 incidents per 
1,000 prisoners. Prisoners aged between 21 and 39 were responsible for 71% of self-
harm incidents. This group accounted for the majority of self-harm incidents for both 
males (70%) and females (74%).  
 
73% of individuals who self-harmed in 2016 were aged between 21 and 39. Barring 
prisoners aged 15-17, the likelihood a prisoner will self-harm decreases with age, with 266 
self-harmers per 1,000 aged 18-20 in 2016 compared to only 13 per 1,000 aged 60 and 
over. Prisoners aged 15-17, consisting of male prisoners only, had the second highest 
likelihood with 254 per 1,000 prisoners. 
 
Ethnicity 
 
In 2016, White prisoners were the most likely to self-harm with a rate of 550 incidents per 
1,000 prisoners. This is more than 3 times higher than BAME prisoners (170 incidents per 
1,000 prisoners). For females, those of mixed ethnicity had the highest rate of self-harm 
(2,723 incidents per 1,000 prisoners) followed by those of White ethnicity (2,150 incidents 
per 1,000 prisoners).  
 
Time-in current prison 
 
The first few days of custody in a new prison are particularly high-risk in terms of self-
harming. In 2016, 9% of all self-harm incidents occurred within the first week of the 
prisoner arriving in their current prison and 24% occurred within the first month. 
 
Status 
 
Across the time series, while those who received a determinate sentence accounted for 
the largest proportion of self-harm incidents (54% in 2016), this was lower than the overall 
share of determinate sentence prisoners in the population (65% in 2016).  
 
Recall prisoners make up 8% of the prison population but 15% of self-harm incidents were 
committed by this group. 
 
Method of self-harm 
 
Cutting or scratching remains the most common method of self-harm for both males and 
females in 2016, with almost two-thirds of all incidents attributed to this.  
 
The frequency of less common methods varies. In the female estate, self-strangulation is 
the second most prevalent method, accounting for 29% of incidents, compared to 6% in 
the male estate. In the male estate, the second most common method is overdosing or 
self-poisoning (10% of incidents), whereas this is relatively rare in the female estate (3%). 
 
Location 
 
The majority of incidents of self-harm across the time series occurred in non-specialist 
areas such as cells and common areas, with 70% occurring in these spaces in 2016.  
 
Hospital attendance 
 
The majority of hospital attendances require A&E treatment only (94% in 2016). 
 
Frequency 
 
Individuals who self-harm in the female estate are more likely to have repeat incidents, 
with 56% of female self-harmers having 2 or more incidents attributed to them in 2016 
compared to 46% of males.  
 
A small number of prisoners have a disproportionate effect on self-harm incident 
numbers: in 2016, just 2% of self-harmers accounted for 29% of all incidents.  
 
 

 
 
- 10 - 
Annex B - Assaults annual tables key findings 
 
Age 
 
In 2016, prisoners aged 15 to 20 years old accounted for 26% for assailants, 32% for 
fighters and 20% for victims. Prisoners aged 15 to 17 years had substantially higher rates 
of assaults than any other age group; for every 1,000 prisoners aged 15 to 17 there were 
2,279 involvements in assault incidents as an assailant, 2,543 as a fighter and 973 as a 
victim. 
 
The number of assaults increased by 77% between 2013 and 2016. This change was 
largely driven by prisoners aged between 21 and 39, who accounted for 79% of the 
increase in assailants, 88% of the increase in fighters and 79% of the increase in victims 
over this period. 
 
Ethnicity 
 
In 2016, White prisoners were less likely to be participants in an assault than BAME 
prisoners. Of the BAME group, mixed-race prisoners were the most likely to be an 
assailant (400 per 1,000 prisoners), fighter (371 per 1,000) or victim (206 per 1,000). For 
every 1,000 White prisoners, there were 167 assailants, 149 fighters and 136 victims 
involved in assault incidents. 
 
By type 
 
The pattern of assaults is different across the male and female estates. Prisoner-on-
officer assaults accounted for 31% of all assaults in female establishments in 2016, down 
from 42% in 2006. In contrast, prisoner-on-officer assaults in the male estate increased 
from 19% to 24% over the same period. 
 
Weapon 
 
In 2016, 21% of all assaults involved the use of a weapon, up 9 percentage points from 
2006. The most frequently used weapons were blunt instruments; used in 4% of all 
assaults and 17% of assaults involving a weapon.  
 
The use of spitting is escalating, having increased from 23 incidents in 2006 to 738 in 
2016, becoming the second most used type of weapon. 
 
Injuries 
 
Across the time series, cuts requiring sutures were the most common serious injuries 
sustained in an assault, occurring in 3% of all assaults in 2016 and accounting for 29% of 
all serious injuries. 
 
Hospital attendance and treatment for concussion/internal injuries 
 
The proportion of assault incidents requiring hospital attendance as an inpatient was 2.1% 
in 2016, up from 1.6% in 2006. 
 
Incidents that needed treatment for concussion/internal injuries accounted for 2.9% of all 
assaults, up from 2.1% in 2006.