Exposed: the huge scale of the prisons crisis in Britain

Moj figures reveal rapid increases in drug use and violence

- JABED AHMED

Prisons across the country are in a deep state of crisis – the extent of which is exposed by the latest statistics. Soaring rates of violence, self-harm and drug misuse have become widespread in overcrowded prisons in England and Wales.

The prison population remains “within a few hundred places of collapse”, according to the new justice secretary Shabana Mahmood, as overcrowding in prisons increases for the third year in a row.

The far-right riots this summer have added further pressure to the crisis-struck system, with police already arresting nearly 500 people. Sir Keir Starmer’s government has announced plans to make more than 500 new prison places available to deal with rioters.

However, the crisis in the system doesn’t stop with a bursting population – there are high rates of homelessness for exoffenders and probation services across the country are rated as inadequate.

Campaigners warn that exposing inmates to violence and mental distress will be detrimental to efforts to rehabilitate them. The scale of the chaos in UK prisons begins in young offender institutes, where there has been a substantial increase in selfharm and violence, according to the latest figures.

Children and Young People Secure Estates

Violence

There were 510 incidents of assault in youth offender institutes from January to March this year – a 10 per cent increase on last year. These involved 386 different children as assailants. There were 224 assaults on staff and 38 incidents of serious violence, including sexual offences, stabbings, burns, extensive bruising and fractures.

Children aged 15 were the age group most likely to resort to violence. Children aged 10 to 14 were disproportionately victims of assault in young offender institutes.

Self-harm