What we can't tell you · Partial
How many people die in prison custody, of what causes, in which prisons, and by ethnicity?
Partial Official data answers part of the question: some categories, some years, some geographies or one stage of a process.
Why
The Ministry of Justice "Safety in custody" quarterly update (to March 2026, published 30 July 2026) gives deaths to June 2026 by apparent cause and sex (359 deaths, 71 self-inflicted, 208 natural causes) with a deaths data tool by establishment. Ethnicity was removed from the quarterly tool and is published only in the annual deaths tables each January; ethnicity by sex is not cross-tabulated because the numbers in the women's estate are too small.
What is known
What is not known
- Ethnicity in the quarterly releases (annual only, each January)
- Ethnicity by sex, and ethnicity by establishment
Who holds the data
- Ministry of Justice
- HM Prison and Probation Service
Would a Freedom of Information request help?
Possibly. The annual tables hold ethnicity; a request for establishment by ethnicity would be answered with small-number suppression.
Privacy and disclosure restrictions
Cause is provisional until the coroner's inquest concludes. Non-White groups have between one and five deaths a year, which the publisher says are too small for reliable generalisations.
Official sources checked
- https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2026
- https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/prison-and-custody-incidents/self-inflicted-deaths-in-prison-custody/latest/
Last reviewed 2026-09-02. Availability changes; if a publication now answers this question, challenge the classification below.