In this country we do not give a death sentence, but for everyone who has taken their life in prison that is exactly what they got

 - Mark Saunders, whose son Dean died in HMP & YOI Chelmsford in 2016

Below is a breakdown of deaths in prison in England and Wales by calendar year (January-December) since 2012. These figures do not include deaths in immigration removal centres (IRCs) and immigration detention centres, but do include deaths of people held in prisons as immigration detainees and those being transported by or in the custody of prisoner escort services.

See also: Deaths in women’s prisons. 

INQUEST also monitors the deaths of children and young people and black and minority ethnic people in prison. We are currently in the process of reviewing and updating our statistics on these pages. If you require this or any other information unavailable in our Statistics and monitoring resources, please get in touch with us. As a small team, we are unable to respond to all requests, and detailed information requests may take one to two weeks to gather. If your request is urgent, please mark it as such and give a brief explanation as to why. For any media requests, please get in touch via our media enquiry form.

For further information and resources visit our campaign pages:

Prisons        Women's prisons        Now or never! Legal aid for inquests

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In January 2020, INQUEST published a report on the deaths of people in prison. 

The evidence presented in Deaths in prison: a national scandal, is gathered from our casework and monitoring of inquests, providing a unique insight into the harms and dangers of imprisonment.

Containing case studies and original analysis of jury findings and coroners’ reports, it reveals the repeated and systemic failings documented at inquests across a two-year period.

VIEW REPORT

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Total deaths in prison custody by apparent cause, England and Wales 2013-2024
Year	Self-inflicted	Non-self-inflicted	Awaiting classification	Total
2024	20	40	19	79*
2023	89	164	55	308*
2022	71	175	52	298*
2021	85	256	30	371*
2020	67	249**	3	319*
2019	86	207**	8	301
2018	93	229	5	327
2017	73	219	0	292
2016	122	230	2	354
2015	89	167	0	256
2014	89	153	0	242
2013	76	139	0	215
Totals	960	2228	174	3362

* Figures for 2020 up to the current calendar year may be incomplete as they are based on INQUEST's casework and monitoring. The data for previous calendar years are derived from official sources. For data going back to 1978, visit the Ministry of Justice website (see Table: Deaths in prison custody 1978-2019).

** In September 2019, a newborn baby died in HMP Bronzefield; another baby was stillborn in HMP Styal in June 2020. The Ministry of Justice does not routinely collect or publish data on miscarriages, stillbirths and neo-natal deaths so the number of deaths of babies born to imprisoned mothers may be higher.

Source: INQUEST casework and monitoring

Figures last updated 16 April 2024.

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