Prisoners: Restraint Techniques

(asked on 15th December 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many instances of the use of force by prison officers on prisoners were recorded in each of the last 10 years; and (1) how many, and (2) what proportion, of those instances were recorded by prisoner ethnicity.


This question was answered on 29th December 2021

The requested data on use of force incidents is available for the year ending March 2012 to March 2021. This is detailed in the attached Excel spreadsheet.

Ethnicity data is available from March 2019 to March 2021, and included, however data for March 2012 to March 2018 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost and is not included.

There was a steady increase in the number of force incidents between 2011 and 2019, which was in part attributable to an increase in violent incidents in prisons, improved recording processes and inclusion of guiding holds as recordable Use of Force incidents.

Every use of physical force is reviewed and prison officers receive appropriate training to ensure that it is only used when necessary, reasonable and proportionate, and as a last resort.

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