Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners died while in prisons in England and Wales as a percentage of the total prison population in each of the last five years.

The Department publishes statistics concerning deaths in prison custody in England and Wales in the quarterly Safety in Custody statistics. A spreadsheet containing statistics on all deaths in custody, up to December 2021, broken down by category including gender is available, in addition to quarterly bulletins outlining trends at: Safety in custody: quarterly update to September 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Department also publishes figures concerning the rate of deaths per 1,000 prisoners (based on the average prison population at the end of each month within the 12-month period). Please see section 1.1 of the Deaths in Custody 1978-2021 table.