Drug poisoning accounted for 37% of deaths among prison leavers supervised in the community in Wales last year, according to a new report from Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre. The figure is significantly higher than the proportion across England and Wales as a whole, where deaths under the same category accounted for just over a fifth (21%) of the total.
Renewed strategy urged
The findings have prompted calls for the Welsh Government to take action, with substance use charity Kaleidoscope urging ministers to introduce a renewed strategy to reduce drug-related deaths. Mike Vigar, operations director at the charity, said: "No one should lose their life to drug use whether inside or outside of prison."
"Every drug-related death is a preventable tragedy," Mr Vigar continued. "Wales needs a renewed, coordinated approach, informed by lived experience, that supports prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery, while addressing the inequalities that continue to place some people at greater risk of harm."
He urged the new Welsh Government to rapidly develop a refreshed, evidence-led substance use strategy, with the aim of significantly reducing drug-related deaths across Wales. Mr Vigar said that everyone should be able to access effective support, "regardless of their gender, ethnicity, or experience of the prison and criminal justice system."
Rough sleeping on release
The rise in rough sleeping among prison leavers has also raised concerns about the support people receive when they return to the community. The report found that the number of prison leavers managed by Welsh probation services who were sleeping rough on the day of their release had risen by 24% in 2025/26. In total, 695 people were recorded as rough sleeping on the day they left prison.
David Bennett, head of service innovation at homelessness charity The Wallich, said housing, health and justice services needed to work together, dubbing release into homelessness as "unacceptable." "Without co-ordinated, through the gate support which places the person at the centre, the data shows that prison leavers are being set up to fail when they re-enter society," he said.
"Release into homelessness is unacceptable and avoidable." Mr Bennett said the report highlighted inequality and a lack of opportunity in Wales. He also called for drug use to be treated as a health issue rather than a criminal justice issue, saying: "The war on drugs hasn’t worked and it is costing more lives each year."
Wider justice system issues
The report also highlighted several other issues within the Welsh justice system. Despite a decline in the female prison population, the number of women given immediate custodial sentences in Wales increased by 27% in 2025, reaching its highest level since the Covid-19 outbreak. More than a third (39%) of all custodial sentences given to women in Wales that year were for shop theft offences.
Black people remained the most over-represented ethnic group in the Welsh prison population in 2025. There were 58 Black people from Wales in prison for every 10,000 people in the population, compared with 15 White people per 10,000. The number of Welsh prisoners held on remand also increased, reaching 809 in 2025 after a previous record of 804 in 2024. When combined, people held on remand and those recalled to custody accounted for 34% of the Welsh prison population in 2025.
The report found that recorded self-harm incidents in Welsh prisons fell by 10% in 2025, having reached their highest level in 2024. Of the 13,394 people who self-harmed in prisons across England and Wales in 2025, 848 had a recorded origin address in Wales.
Calls for devolution
Report author Dr Robert Jones, of the Wales Governance Centre, said the findings should help inform the development of ambitious, evidence-led policies by the new Welsh Government. "As we approach six months into the tenure of the new Welsh Government, it is hoped that the evidence presented throughout this report can help inform the development of bold, ambitious and evidence-led policies over the coming year and beyond," he said.
The Welsh Government said it is working closely with health boards, local authorities, Public Health Wales, and other key partners to reduce harms caused by substance misuse and added that the findings strengthen the case for full devolution of justice to Wales. A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "Every drug-related death is a tragedy. We are working closely with health boards, local authorities, Public Health Wales and other key partners to reduce the harms caused by substance misuse, focusing on early intervention, prevention, treatment and recovery support."
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "We inherited prisons in crisis but we're acting on all fronts, including by reducing the number of women in custody through investment in community services and cutting the flow of drugs into prisons. In Wales we invest more than £3.4m into services which work across prisons, probation and courts to help support prison leavers overcome their addiction." The spokesperson added that the prison probation service can offer temporary accommodation to prisoners who are at risk of homelessness.
The Prison Fact-file brings together information on prisons and sentencing published by the Ministry of Justice, including the second Welsh Justice Data Annual Release, alongside previously unseen data obtained through freedom of information requests and written parliamentary questions.
