The number of suspected murders recorded in UK prisons is at its highest in at least 37 years after another alleged homicide at a privately run jail.
Prison reform campaigners said violence in jails was out of control after a 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder at HMP Peterborough in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The victim was severely beaten to death and was found in his cell, which he shared with one other prisoner, sources told the Guardian.
There have been eight suspected murders at UK prisons this year, the highest since records began in 1978, when the previous record was set at five.
There are on average one or two murders in prisons each year, according to official Ministry of Justice figures, whereas in 2015 there have been as many suspected murders as in the previous five years combined.
There have been two other suspected murders in UK prisons in the last two weeks alone: a 24-year-old inmate was arrested on suspicion of murder after an 80-year-old man died on 3 December at Nottingham prison, and another prisoner was arrested on suspicion of murder after a fellow inmate was stabbed to death at HMP Dartmoor on 26 November.
Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the spate of suspected homicides behind bars had raised the possibility of the highest recorded murder rate in at least 37 years.
“Levels of violence are now out of control, putting both prisoners and staff in danger,” she said. “Whilst we welcome the concentration by the government on solving the long-term problems within the system, immediate action must be taken to cut the number of people in prison and to support staff.”
Peterborough prison, which is run by Sodexo Justice Services, is a category B prison that holds about 500 men.
Glyn Travis, a spokesman for the Prison Officers Association union, asked what the justice secretary, Michael Gove, and Michael Spurr, chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, which runs prisons in England and Wales, were doing to address the high levels of violence.
“The silence on this issue is ridiculous,” he said. “They just say ‘the police are dealing with it’, but what’s the underlying cause to this? We firmly believe it’s down to lack of staff and staff cuts. You reap what you sow.”
A Cambridgeshire police spokeswoman said: “We were called at about 1.45 this morning with reports of violence at HMP Peterborough. Sadly one prisoner has died. Another, a 25-year-old man, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is currently in custody at Thorpe Wood police station in Peterborough.”
Peterborough prison was the site of a pilot payment-by-results scheme, under which released prisoners received through-the-gate support in an effort to reduce reoffending.
A Sodexo spokesman said: “We can confirm there was a death in custody at HMP Peterborough this morning. Police were called at 1.45am.
“The next of kin have been informed and our thoughts are with the family. It would be inappropriate to comment further while the police investigation is under way.”
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We take a zero tolerance approach to violence in our prisons. Offenders who take part in violent incidents can be referred to the police for prosecution and face additional time on their sentences. We have also established a violence reduction project to gain a better understanding of the current levels of violence in our prisons.
“In addition, we have responded to recent staffing pressures by recruiting 2,340 prison officers over the last year, with 540 more full-time prison officers in our prisons than there were twelve months ago.”
