Justice Secretary David Gauke has admitted that violence and self-harm in prisons are 'unacceptably high', as official figures show both have surged to new record levels. In the year to September, there were 33,803 assault incidents in England and Wales, a 20% increase on the previous 12 months. Of these, nearly 4,000 were classified as serious, including those requiring medical treatment or resulting in fractures, burns, or extensive bruising.
Assaults on staff also reached record highs, increasing by 29% year on year to 10,085, including 997 serious incidents. The Ministry of Justice noted that a change in recording methods may have contributed to the jump. Self-harm incidents rose by 23% to 52,814, another record high. There were 325 deaths in prison custody in the 12 months to December 2018, up 10% from the previous year, including four homicides.
Mr Gauke described the figures as 'disturbing' but expressed optimism that measures being implemented would reduce violence. He highlighted an extra £70m investment to fight drugs and boost security, along with training over 4,000 new prison officers. Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon blamed cuts to staff and budgets, claiming they were 'directly to blame for violence spiralling out of control in our prisons'.
The Government has faced sustained pressure over the state of jails, with overall assaults more than doubling in four years. Ministers point to drugs, particularly psychoactive substances, as a 'game changer' in destabilising prisons. New scanning equipment to detect illicit substances is now operational in ten of the most challenging jails. Prisons Minister Rory Stewart has said he would quit if safety standards at those establishments do not improve within a year.
Mark Day of the Prison Reform Trust said the figures show 'every indicator of prison safety to be pointing the wrong way'. Andrew Neilson of the Howard League for Penal Reform added that the statistics underline the urgent need for sentencing reform.
