A statistical bulletin, published by the Ministry of Justice, shows that 394 people in prison died in 2025 – a 15% increase on the previous year. They included 79 people who died in circumstances recorded as “self-inflicted”. The number of women who died rose sharply to 13, up from nine in 2024.
The total death toll in 2025 exceeds the previous high of 373 which was recorded in 2021, when prisons were effectively in lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, there was a 4.3% drop in self-harm in prisons, with 74,521 incidents of self-harm in the 12 months to the end of September 2025. The rate of self-harm incidents fell by 3.2% in men’s prisons and fell by 2.8% in women’s prisons.
Over the same period, prisons recorded 31,555 assaults – a 6% rise on the figures for the previous 12 months. The rate of assaults was 83% higher in female establishments than in male establishments.
Commenting on these figures, Andrea Coomber KC (Hon.) Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “The dire state of our prisons is revealed starkly in today’s figures. When almost 400 people die behind bars in a single year, it is a national scandal, and it overshadows the otherwise encouraging slight decrease in the very high rates of self-harm. More needs to be done to reduce pressure on the prison population, and further action will save lives, protect staff, and help more people to move on from crime.”
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