{
 "id": "deaths-in-prison-custody-england-wales",
 "title": "Deaths in prison custody, England and Wales",
 "category": "crime-justice",
 "summary": "Deaths of prisoners in prison custody in England and Wales in each year to September since 2016, by the apparent cause the prison service gives – self-inflicted, natural causes, homicide and other – from the Ministry of Justice's safety in custody statistics.",
 "unit": "count",
 "chart": "line",
 "volatile": false,
 "status": "The latest year is provisional",
 "notes": [
  "Deaths of prisoners arising from incidents in prison custody in England and Wales, in each year to September, by the apparent cause in HM Prison and Probation Service's classification. The MoJ says its self-inflicted deaths include a wider range of deaths than suicides, and its homicides a wider range than murder; other deaths include accidental deaths and those for which further information is awaited. They include deaths of prisoners released on temporary licence for medical reasons.",
  "Every classification stays provisional until an inquest confirms it, and the MoJ expects some of the latest two years' other deaths to be reclassified as natural causes or self-inflicted, so recent years are revised: the MoJ marks the latest year provisional and the years it has revised.",
  "The hub's deaths in prison custody by prison come from the MoJ's yearly table of deaths since 1978, for calendar years.",
  "If this subject affects you, Samaritans are there day or night, free on 116 123."
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "publisher": "Ministry of Justice",
  "publisher_url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice",
  "source_page": "https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics",
  "licence": "OGL-3.0",
  "licence_name": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-08T13:08:53Z",
  "raw_files": [
   {
    "name": "page.json",
    "url": "https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-june-2026",
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    "bytes": 17967,
    "content_type": "application/json"
   },
   {
    "name": "table.ods",
    "url": "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6ae214ad39d29f3f9b9b3f67/safety-in-custody-summary-q2-2026_summary_tables.ods",
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   }
  ]
 },
 "meta": {
  "latest_period": "2026-09-30",
  "period": "Year to Sep 2026",
  "marks": {
   "Year to Sep 2021": "(r)",
   "Year to Sep 2023": "(r)",
   "Year to Sep 2024": "(r)",
   "Year to Sep 2025": "(r)",
   "Year to Sep 2026": "(p)"
  },
  "govuk_page": "/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-june-2026",
  "govuk_page_title": "Safety in custody: quarterly update to June 2026",
  "attachment_title": "Safety in Custody summary tables to June 2026",
  "accreditation": "Accredited official statistics: GOV.UK's page for the release calls it so"
 },
 "headline": {
  "label": "All deaths",
  "value": 360.0,
  "period": "Year to Sep 2026"
 },
 "series": [
  {
   "name": "All deaths",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2016",
     "v": 324.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2017",
     "v": 300.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2018",
     "v": 325.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2019",
     "v": 308.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2020",
     "v": 283.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2021",
     "v": 396.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2022",
     "v": 307.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2023",
     "v": 304.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2024",
     "v": 317.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2025",
     "v": 411.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2026",
     "v": 360.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Self-inflicted",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2016",
     "v": 111.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2017",
     "v": 80.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2018",
     "v": 90.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2019",
     "v": 91.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2020",
     "v": 72.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2021",
     "v": 83.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2022",
     "v": 75.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2023",
     "v": 93.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2024",
     "v": 88.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2025",
     "v": 97.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2026",
     "v": 66.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Natural causes",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2016",
     "v": 190.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2017",
     "v": 199.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2018",
     "v": 172.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2019",
     "v": 172.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2020",
     "v": 181.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2021",
     "v": 291.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2022",
     "v": 212.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2023",
     "v": 188.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2024",
     "v": 193.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2025",
     "v": 234.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2026",
     "v": 214.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Homicide",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2016",
     "v": 5.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2017",
     "v": 3.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2018",
     "v": 5.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2019",
     "v": 2.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2020",
     "v": 2.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2021",
     "v": 1.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2022",
     "v": 1.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2023",
     "v": 3.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2024",
     "v": 5.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2025",
     "v": 6.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2026",
     "v": 5.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Other",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2016",
     "v": 18.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2017",
     "v": 18.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2018",
     "v": 58.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2019",
     "v": 43.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2020",
     "v": 28.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2021",
     "v": 21.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2022",
     "v": 19.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2023",
     "v": 20.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2024",
     "v": 31.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2025",
     "v": 74.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Year to Sep 2026",
     "v": 75.0
    }
   ]
  }
 ]
}