Serious assaults committed by inmates at Bedford Prison have fallen

New figures show a drop in serious assaults committed by inmates at Bedford Prison.

The Ministry of Justice figures show prisoners at HMP Bedford committed 19 serious assaults last year – down from 35 in 2021.

But across England and Wales, the number of such offences rose by nearly a fifth from 2021 to 2022, with reform groups warning the figures highlight issues in prisons across the country.

Just over 2,400 serious assaults were recorded in 2022 – a 19 per cent rise on 2021 figures, although this remains below the pre-pandemic level of 3,679 in 2019.

Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, said the latest figures are a ‘dire sign of the state of some of our prisons’.

Ms Sinha added: "With too many people held in spaces they weren’t designed for; staff who are burnt out and leaving in droves; and people locked up for much of the day, frustration and violence are the all too familiar consequences.

"It is only when people in our prisons have purpose and hope, and staff have the space to develop relationships with those in their care, that we can avoid so much unnecessary and damaging conflict."

Prison reform campaign group The Howard League for Penal Reform said prisons ‘create conflict, thwart human potential, put a strain on police and hospitals and cost a fortune’.

League chief executive Andrea Coomber said: "Instead of helping people to move on from crime, too often they do the opposite.

"Although the number of assaults recorded is not yet as high as we saw before the pandemic, it appears to be rising fast. With jails now so crowded that people are being held in police cells, clearly the system is becoming less and less safe.She added the Government must end its plan to build more jails when there is insufficient staff.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Assaults are nearly 30 per cent lower than in 2019 as a result of the hard work of our staff, and our £100m investment in prison securit, which means fewer of the weapons, drugs and phones, that fuel violence, are getting in in the first place."