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Committee publication · Correspondence · 17 December 2025 · HC 702

Correspondence from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman relating to the 3 December evidence session

From: Welsh Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation in Wales

Summary

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman responds to Welsh Affairs Committee questions about data collection on Welsh prisoner deaths and drug-related prison deaths. The Ombudsman confirms current data systems cannot link deaths to prisoner nationality or home address, and that drug-related deaths are not separately recorded from other non-natural deaths. The Ombudsman supports database improvements to track both metrics.

Key findings

  • HMPPS cannot currently determine how many Welsh prisoners have died in custody or how many deaths were self-inflicted due to deaths being recorded in one database and home address in another
  • The Ombudsman proposes recording nationality (Welsh/English) within the database as more reliable than using home address, which does not necessarily reflect nationality
  • The Ministry of Justice does not disaggregate drug-related deaths from other non-natural deaths, limiting transparency on drugs' impact in prisons
  • The Ombudsman confirms drug availability in prisons has been increasing and supports changes to allow reporting of drug-related death numbers separately

Tone

Factual

Topics

criminal-justiceprisonsdata-managementwales

Key actors

Adrian Usher, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Welsh Affairs Committee, Ruth (Committee member), Ministry of Justice, HMPPS

Notable line

“It is vital that data is available on the number of drug-related deaths.”

Key Quotes

“… there is currently no way of determining how many Welsh prisoners have died in prison custody, or how many of these deaths have been recorded as self- inflicted.”
— Adrian Usher · addressing data limitations in HMPPS database
“This is because a home address does not necessarily reflect nationality and therefore may not provide accurate data.”
— Adrian Usher · proposing nationality recording as alternative to home address
“The availability and number of drugs in prison has been increasing, and other non-natural deaths can include accidents and those where the cause of death was not ascertained by the post-mortem.”
— Adrian Usher · explaining why disaggregating drug-related deaths is important
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Source · parliament.uk record ↗

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