There is a new version of this page. View the latest version.
- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toViolent incidents per 1,000 prisoners by ethnicity section
- 3. Navigate toAssaults per 1,000 prisoners by ethnicity over time section
- 4. Navigate to Methodology section
- 5. Navigate to Data sources section
- 6. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
-
prison violence has recently increased for the entire prison population, with a 33% increase in incidents involving assailants in 2015 compared to 2014
-
between 2011 and 2015, there was an increase among all ethnic groups in violent incidents involving assailants
-
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 rate of violent incidents per 1,000 prisoners. In many cases, individual prisoners were 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 prisoners are generally more reliable. The smaller numbers of prisoners from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups mean that estimates for these groups are less reliable than estimates for White people.
What the data measures
This data measures the number and rate of violent incidents per 1,000 prisoners in England and Wales per calendar year from 2011 to 2015. The data is broken down by ethnicity.
There are separate breakdowns for the different roles prisoners played in each incident:
- assailants are defined as prisoners who assault another prisoner
- victims are prisoners assaulted by another prisoner
- 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
Prisoners reported their own ethnicity according to the following broad categories:
- Asian/Asian British
- Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
- Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
- White
- Other (including Chinese)
2. Violent incidents per 1,000 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 | 1,177 | 335.5 | 980 | 279.3 | 475 | 135.4 |
| White | 8,026 | 127.0 | 7,905 | 125.1 | 6,761 | 107.0 |
| Other (including Chinese) | 160 | 163.1 | 191 | 194.7 | 128 | 130.5 |
Download table data for ‘Violent incidents per 1,000 prisoners by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Violent incidents per 1,000 prisoners by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Violence involving prisoners Violent incidents per 1,000 prisoners by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
-
in 2015, prisoners from the Mixed ethnic group were more likely than any other group to be assailants, victims or fighters – for every 1,000 prisoners of Mixed ethnicity, there were 336 incidents as 'assailants', 279 as 'victims' and 135 as 'fighters'
-
Black prisoners were the second most likely ethnic group to be assailants (at 285 incidents per 1,000 prisoners) or fighters (at 266 incidents per 1,000 prisoners)
-
Asian prisoners were least likely to be assailants (at 118 incidents per 1,000 prisoners) or fighters (at 125 incidents per 1,000 prisoners)
-
White prisoners were the least likely to be victims (at 107 incidents per 1,000 prisoners)
3. Assaults per 1,000 prisoners by ethnicity over time
| Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 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 per 1,000 prisoners by ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Assaults per 1,000 prisoners by ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Violence involving prisoners Assaults per 1,000 prisoners by ethnicity over time Summary
-
between 2011 and 2015, there was an increase in violent incidents involving assailants among all ethnic groups
-
the Other ethnic group (including Chinese prisoners) had the lowest number of assailants in 2015 (at 160), but this was more than twice as many as in 2011 (when there were 65)
-
Black prisoners accounted for the second largest number of assailants per 1,000 prisoners over the period studied – but the same group also saw the smallest percentage increase in assaults between 2011 and 2015 (at 56%, from 182 to 285 incidents per 1,000 prisoners)
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.
To calculate the prisoner population, a 12-month average (based on prisoner counts done at the start of every month) was used where this data was accessible. This data was not accessible for the prisoner population by age or by ethnicity, so quarterly data was used to calculate the prisoner population.
Ethnicity is based on self-reporting by prisoners and has not been independently validated. About 95% of prisoners reported their ethnicity for each year of the period studied.
Information is provided by prisons and published by the Ministry of Justice after data checks are completed.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Values of 2 or fewer prisoners have been suppressed to protect confidentiality. (No incident numbers have been suppressed.)
Rounding
Rates per 1,000 are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Related publications
GOV.UK Safety in custody statistics
Quality and methodology information
5. Data sources
Source
NOMS annual offender equalities report: 2015 to 2016
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
This data is used by government to inform policy development, to monitor the impact of changes over time and to model future changes and their impact on the prison system.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, value and numerator