Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence have died of natural causes while in prison since 2023.

Please see the number of people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence who have died of natural causes while in prison since 2023 in the table below. Please note that these figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database. As classification of deaths may change following inquest or as new information emerges, numbers may change from time to time. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman investigate each death.

Notes

• Figures include incidents at HMPPS operated Immigration Removal Centres and during contracted out escorts (including contracted out escort of prisoners from STCs), but do not include incidents at Medway STC.

• Deaths in prison custody figures include all deaths of prisoners arising from incidents during prison custody. They include deaths of prisoners while released on temporary license (ROTL) for medical reasons but exclude other types of ROTL where the state has less direct responsibility.

• All classifications of deaths remain provisional until confirmed at inquest. Due to the number of deaths that remain unclassified (awaiting further information) in recent years, and the latest year particularly, caution should be used when comparing with earlier periods.

• In addition to deaths in prison custody which actually occur in hospitals, hospices or nursing homes a small proportion will occur while in an ambulance on the way to hospital, while on escort.

• An indeterminate sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) was introduced in 2005. It was intended for high risk prisoners considered ‘dangerous’ but whose offence did not merit a life sentence. The number of prisoners held on this sentence increased initially and the increase was offset by reductions elsewhere.

• IPP prisoners in this table include both recalled and unreleased prisoners recorded as serving an IPP as their main sentence.