Fewer prison inmates completing rehabilitation courses than in 2010

The number of prisoners completing rehabilitation programmes in England and Wales under consecutive Conservative governments has fallen by 74%, according to research.

- Rajeev Syal

Nearly 12,000 fewer prisoners took courses designed to change and improve their behaviour and reduce reoffending in 2023 compared with 2010, when David Cameron became prime minister.

Offender management programmes are designed to "change the thinking, attitudes and behaviours which may lead people to reoffend", according to the Ministry of Justice.

The courses encourage goals for the future and are designed to help people develop new skills, including problem-solving, managing relationships and self-management.

The programmes include ones to address specific offences, for example sexual offending and domestic violence, general patterns of offending behaviour and substance misuse.

Data shows that between 2010 and 2023-the latest figures available-the number of offenders completing all accredited programmes fell by 74%, from 16,099 to 4,135.

The figures come after the Guardian disclosed that prison governors were told by civil servants that the government was expected to be plunged into a new overcrowding crisis in July. In a separate development on Friday, a women was arrested over a social media video allegedly showing a member of prison staff having sex with an inmate in a jail cell.