Violence involving prisoners
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1. Main facts and figures
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prison violence has recently increased for the entire prison population, with a 33% increase in incidents involving assailants in 2015 compared to 2014
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between 2011 and 2015, there was an increase in all ethnic groups in violent incidents involving assailants
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prisoners in the Mixed ethnic group were more likely than any other group to be assailants, victims or fighters in 2015
Things you need to know
The data shows the number of violent incidents per 1,000, so individual prisoners were in many cases involved in more than one violent incident, and potentially in different capacities
The data is based on all assault incidents, but does not include information about staff or visitors who may have been victims, or otherwise involved
Estimates based on a larger number of respondents are generally more reliable. Therefore, the smaller numbers of respondents from ethnic minority backgrounds mean that estimates for these groups are less reliable than estimates for White people.
What the data measures
This data breaks down the number of violent incidents per 1,000 prisoners in England and Wales by ethnicity for each year from 2011 to 2015. There are separate breakdowns for the different roles (assailant, fighter or victim) which the prisoner plays in the violent incident.
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Assailants are defined as prisoners who carry out an assault another prisoner
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Victims are prisoners assaulted by another prisoner
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Fighters are prisoners involved in a violent incident where they and one or more prisoners use violence and there is no clear assailant or victim
The data comes from the Incident Reporting System of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).
The ethnic categories used in this data
For this data, the number of incidents recorded (the ‘sample size’) was too small to draw any meaningful conclusions for detailed ethnic categories. Therefore, the data is broken down into the following 5 broad groups:
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White
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Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
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Asian/Asian British
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Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
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Chinese and other
2. Violence involving prisoners by ethnicity
| Assailant | Fighter | Victim | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Assailant Number | Assailant Incidents per 1000 prisoners | Fighter Number | Fighter Incidents per 1000 prisoners | Victim Number | Victim Incidents per 1000 prisoners |
| Asian | 810 | 117.9 | 858 | 124.9 | 769 | 111.9 |
| Black | 3,017 | 285.3 | 2,817 | 266.4 | 1,335 | 126.3 |
| Mixed other | 1,177 | 335.5 | 980 | 279.3 | 475 | 135.4 |
| White | 8,026 | 127.0 | 7,905 | 125.1 | 6,761 | 107.0 |
| Chinese and other | 160 | 163.1 | 191 | 194.7 | 128 | 130.5 |
Download table data for ‘Violence involving prisoners by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Violence involving prisoners by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Violence involving prisoners Violence involving prisoners by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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prisoners in the Mixed ethnic group were more likely than any other group to be assailants, victims or fighters in 2015 - for every 1,000 Mixed prisoners there were 336 incidents involving assailants, 279 involving victims and 135 involving fighters from this group
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Black prisoners were the second most likely ethnic group to be assailants or fighters in 2015, with 285 and 266 incidents per 1,000 prisoners respectively
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Asian prisoners were least likely to be assailants or fighters in 2015, with 118 and 125 incidents per 1,000 prisoners respectively
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White prisoners were the least likely to be victims, with 107 incidents per 1,000 prisoners
3. Assaults involving prisoners by ethnicity and time
| Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Asian Number per 1000 | Asian Number | Black Number per 1000 | Black Number | Mixed Number per 1000 | Mixed Number | White Number per 1000 | White Number | Other Number per 1000 | Other Number |
| 2011 | 72.5 | 457 | 182.4 | 2,075 | 172.5 | 544 | 71.0 | 4,413 | 66.7 | 65 |
| 2012 | 69.6 | 446 | 180.1 | 2,010 | 182.0 | 579 | 71.6 | 4,437 | 77.1 | 76 |
| 2013 | 95.2 | 617 | 188.1 | 2,030 | 216.4 | 700 | 77.3 | 4,718 | 111.1 | 111 |
| 2014 | 89.1 | 592 | 217.1 | 2,325 | 261.9 | 905 | 94.7 | 5,914 | 120.1 | 123 |
| 2015 | 117.9 | 810 | 285.3 | 3,017 | 335.5 | 1,177 | 127.0 | 8,026 | 163.1 | 160 |
Download table data for ‘Assaults involving prisoners by ethnicity and time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Assaults involving prisoners by ethnicity and time’ (CSV)
Summary of Violence involving prisoners Assaults involving prisoners by ethnicity and time Summary
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between 2011 and 2015, there was an increase in all ethnic groups in violent incidents involving assailants
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the Chinese or other ethnic group included the fewest number of assailants (160) in 2015, but the largest relative increase, with more than twice as many assailants as in 2011, when there were 65.
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while Black prisoners accounted for the second largest number of assailants per 1000 prisoners, but that ethnic group saw the smallest percentage increase in assaults from 2011 to 2015 (a 56% increase, from 182 to 285 incidents per 1000)
4. Methodology
Rates by ethnicity have been taken from the NOMS Equalities Statistics bulletin. Numbers of incidents have been taken from the Ministry of Justice’s Safety in Custody statistics bulletin, which covers a longer time period.
To calculate the prisoner population typically, a 12-month average was used where this data was accessible. As this data was not accessible for the prisoner population by age or by ethnicity, quarterly data was used to calculate the prisoner population.
Race is based on self-reporting by prisoners. It is based on recorded ethnicity within the prison administrative system. About 95% of prisoners report their ethnicity for each year within the time series.
Admin data sources reported as recorded. Information is provided by prisons, signed off locally. Substantial scrutiny of the data is undertaken by Data Wardens, however as with all large administrative data sources, some inherent inaccuracy may exist.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Values of 2 or fewer are suppressed in relation to individuals (not incidents, where no disclosure applies).
Rounding
Rates per 1,000 to 1 decimal place
Related publications
NOMS annual offender equalities report: 2015 to 2016
Further technical information
GOV.UK Safety in custody statistics
5. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Administrative data
Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
Admin data used for internal management information
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, value and numerator