Attacks on prison officers and the number of inmate deaths in England and Wales have soared to record levels, according to official figures.
Ministry of Justice statistics released on Thursday show there were 10,568 assaults on staff in jails in the 12 months to March 2025 – up 7% on the previous year.
The number of people dying in prison rose by nearly a third after 401 deaths in the 12 months to the end of June 2025. They included 86 prisoners who died in circumstances recorded as “self-inflicted”. An unprecedented seven homicides were recorded over the same period.
There is deepening concern about the crisis in the Prison Service caused by overcrowding, inexperienced staff, gang activity and escalating violence.
In April, three prison officers were attacked by Hashem Abedi, one of the men responsible for the Manchester Arena bombing, and in May an officer was allegedly attacked by the Southport triple murderer Axel Rudakubana.
Over the 12 months to the end of March 2025, prisons recorded 30,846 assaults, a 9% rise on the previous 12 months.
The figures show that the rate of staff assaults per 1,000 prisoners increased by 7%, while the rate of serious assaults increased by 6%.
Prisons reported a record high of 77,898 incidents of self-harm in the 12 months to the end of March, a rate of one every seven minutes. The rate of self-harm rose by 5% in men’s prisons and by 6% in women’s prisons.
Annual performance ratings of prisons for 2024-25 reveal that 22 prisons – nearly 19% – were deemed to raise serious concern, the highest number with this rating since the system was introduced.
The figures also show that 6,231 prisoners were let out under the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood’s early release scheme between September and December. Of those, more than 200 offenders had been jailed for 14 years or more.
Andrew Neilson, the director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, urged the government to intervene to save lives. “Prisons cannot go on like this. It is unconscionable to see the huge rise in deaths in custody, as well as continued spikes in self-harm and in assaults,” he said.
The government has announced plans to use artificial intelligence to predict and prevent violence by offenders. AI will be deployed to more accurately assess the risk that criminals pose so they could be transferred to high-security jails, segregated or placed in special separation units.
AI will also be used to uncover prisoners’ secret communications by scanning the data in confiscated phones for codewords and signals for drug dealing, drone drops and threats of violence.
The measures are part of an “action plan” by ministers to embed AI in the criminal justice system, from AI assistants for all civil servants to process information and write reports, to judges seeking to distil evidence and compose decisions.
Ministers last week announced that staff in male prisons in England and Wales would be issued with Tasers as part of a trial to clamp down on violence.
Figures show that more than £20m has been paid out in damages over five years to staff and prisoners who have been assaulted.
Ministers say they will look at whether the electric stun guns should be more widely used after the trial this summer.
Mahmood was urged to intervene in another jail on Thursday after inspectors said there was a “serious risk of harm to children” at Oakhill secure training centre.
A joint inspection by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission and HMI Prisons uncovered “profound and systemic failures, with safeguarding systems in disarray” at the jail in Milton Keynes, which can hold up to 80 children and young people aged between 12 and 19.
Inspectors found a “fractured leadership team”, with the centre director and one of two deputy directors suspended from their duties and the other deputy recently sacked. An Ofsted statement said 23 staff were suspended between November 2024 and 13 July 2025, including 16 “in response to allegations about their conduct with children”. Since 14 July 2025, another seven staff members have been suspended.
Failures included not meeting children’s known mental health needs in a timely manner, children with significant injuries where it was unclear whether they had received appropriate treatment, and failing governance systems.
Mahmood has 28 days to respond with an action plan for improvement at the centre.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The government has made it clear it will do whatever we can to protect our hardworking staff – which is why we are trialling Tasers in prisons and mandated protective body armour.
“We’re also reforming our jails so they create better citizens, not better criminals.”
