Violence remained “excessively high” across the prison estate last year driven by overcrowding, inadequate mental health support and a surge in drug use, an independent watchdog has warned.
An annual report by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), made up of volunteers tasked by ministers with scrutinising conditions in custody, revealed how the issues created volatile environments while the physical setting “remained appalling” in 2024.
The body reported poor conditions were becoming normalised after years of inaction and that staff have become desensitised to seeing people in acute distress.
It comes as the Ministry of Justice published analysis on Thursday that prisoners kept in overcrowded jail cells in England and Wales are nearly 20% more likely to be involved in assaults.
Of the concerns over violence, the IMB report said: “This was often attributed to debt, which was inextricably linked to the drugs crisis.
“Population pressures also made it difficult to defuse volatile environments, as it was difficult to separate prisoners in conflict.
“Drugs and illicit items were IMBs’ most common safety concern and boards’ concerns about drugs in particular rose throughout 2024.
“Many boards described a seemingly unstoppable flow of drugs into prisons.”
The IMB – which looks at prisons, young offenders’ institutions and immigration detention centres – said overcrowding also caused violence and drug use to spill into immigration removal facilities.
This is because of an influx of foreign national offenders being redirected there after the end of their sentence, as part of measures to free up prison places.
It cited an example at Brook House immigration removal centre, at Gatwick airport, that drug dealers were believed to have used vulnerable men as guinea pigs to test drugs, with one detainee needing medical help on several occasions.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice’s research is the first time a direct link is drawn between increased violence in prisons and the overcrowding crisis.
Findings of closed adult prisons in 2022 found inmates in overcrowded cells are 19% more likely to be involved in an assault over a one-year period, compared to those who stay in cells that are not overcrowded.
The document added the true figure is likely to lie between 15% and 24%.
It was published as ministers announced a £40 million cash boost to improve security on the prison estate, including to crack down on drones and contraband with reinforced windows, netting, CCTV and flood lighting.
The investment comes as the National Crime Agency, collaborating with the prison service, National Police Chiefs’ Council and regional organised crime units, launched a new initiative to tackle drones smuggling contraband into jails.
Two senior police leads will also join the corruption and crime unit within the prison service to boost work such as organised crime behind bars.
Responding to the MoJ analysis, prisons minister Lord James Timpson said: “These stark findings confirm what we’ve already seen – dangerously full prisons lead to more crime and more violence.
“This not only risks the safety of our hardworking staff but means our prisons are failing one of their most important functions – cutting crime.
“We must end this chaos. Our £40 million new investment will also help combat the flow of contraband which creates unsafe environments in our jails.”
Latest figures published in April show the number of assaults on staff in adult prisons in England and Wales per year has reached its highest level in a decade.
Some 10,605 assaults on staff in male and female jails were recorded in 2024, up from 9,204 in 2023 and nearly three times the 3,640 in 2014.
A total of 30,490 assaults of all kinds were also recorded in prisons last year, the highest number of assaults in a calendar year since 32,539 were recorded in 2018.
The Government approved the use of protective body armour for prison staff in high security areas, after four prison officers were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi at HMP Frankland in April.
Ministers have also vowed to create 14,000 new prison places by 2031 and have accepted recommendations from the independent sentencing review to curb overcrowding.
This includes changes where prisoners could be released earlier for good behaviour or kept in longer if they do not comply with prison rules.
Latest figures show the prison population in England and Wales is 87,032, down by 1,489 below the record of 88,521, which was reached on September 6 last year.
