Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which five prisons in the male local estate reported the highest number of (a) assaults and (b) self-harm incidents occurring in 2017.

Reducing levels of assault and self-harm in prisons is a top priority for the Ministry of Justice. We are investing across the prison estate in extra staff, training and security measures so that we can provide full and purposeful regimes, improve staff-prisoner relationships and reduce the impact of drugs.

Prisons with a high absolute number of incidents might not necessarily have the highest relative number or rate of incidents, because the number of prisoners and the nature of the population will vary between establishments. Because of this point, we have provided a list of the top 5 prisons with the highest rate of assault as a better means of comparing across prisons.

The five prisons in the male local estate with the highest reported rate of assaults during 2017 were:

Prison (Incidents per 1,000 population)

• HMP Birmingham – (928 incidents per 1,000 population)
• HMP Bristol – (841 incidents per 1,000 population)
• HMP Leicester – (772 incidents per 1,000 population)
• HMP Bedford – (756 incidents per 1,000 population)
• HMP & YOI Chelmsford – (727 incidents per 1,000 population)

The five prisons in the male local estate with the highest rate of self-harm incidents during 2017 were:

Prison (Incidents per 1,000 population)

• HMP Exeter – (1041 incidents per 1,000 population)
• HMP Woodhill – (945 incidents per 1,000 population)
• HMP Peterborough Male – (893 incidents per 1,000 population)
• HMP Leicester – (892 incidents per 1,000 population)
• HMP Bristol – (820 incidents per 1,000 population)