Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of prisoners who die within two weeks of release do so because of drug-related causes.

Every drug-related death is a tragedy. Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, 65 offenders supervised by the Probation Service in England and Wales under post-release supervision, died within two weeks of release from prison. Of these, 27 died as a result of a self-inflicted drug overdose (including intentional and unintentional drug overdoses), equivalent to 41.5%. This figure excludes deaths where drugs were a contributing factor, but not the cause of death.

The apparent cause of death is as reported in the probation case management system, and has not been independently verified. The total number of deaths includes those with an unclassified cause of death, referring to those where the cause was unknown at the time of reporting.

As part of our up to £120m investment to tackle drug misuse, we are focusing on improving continuity of care from prison by providing prisoners with the opportunity to engage with community treatment pre-release via video calling, and recruiting Health and Justice Coordinators in every probation region to improve links between prison and local treatment services. Naloxone, a life-saving medication for those who have suffered an opiate overdose, is available in Probation Contact Centres (including Approved Premises) with staff trained to use it in an emergency.