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UK: Record prison population

01 March 1995

The prison population reached 51,243 in March, exceeding the previous record of July 1987. The news created fears that the cramped and over-crowded conditions, particularly in the large urban Victorian jails, could lead to disturbances. Overcrowding has played a significant factor in previous disturbances. The number of women in prison has risen by 40% in the last two years and is also at a record high of 2,012; the capacity for women's prisons is 1,500. Last year self-mutilation among women prisoners reached epidemic proportions with 990 incidents recorded. Many of them took place in the notorious Holloway Prison in north London. More than a third of women prisoners in 1993 were fine defaulters or other petty offenders who have no reason to be in prison. There were 907 incidents of self-mutilation among young offenders. A Prison Service spokesman commented: "It is recognised by the medical profession that higher rates of self-harm is a feature of the female population as a whole - although not to the extent of women in prison. The fact that many women prisoners were drug users and the fact that women do respond more adversely to imprisonment makes the rates higher." The government expects to provide an extra 2,000 prison places by next year and a total of 55,000 by the end of the decade. The government's policy of "retribution and incarceration" has been criticised by the penal reform group the Howard League.