Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many murders there have been in English prisons in each of the last three years.

The figures we hold on murder are classified within the homicide category. Homicides in custody are defined as “any death of a person at the hands of another, including murder and manslaughter”.

Homicides in prison are rare. Prisons take the responsibility of keeping prisoners, staff and visitors safe extremely seriously. Strenuous efforts are made to learn from each death and improve the understanding and procedures for managing prisoners.

The government is committed to open and transparent reporting of deaths in custody and publish statistics on deaths in prison custody in England and Wales quarterly in the National Statistics “Safety in Custody” bulletin. This statistical series can be found at www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics.