An investigation by The Observer has revealed that nearly 1,000 rapes have taken place in prison in England and Wales since 2010. The number increases to 2,336 when reports of sexual assault are also taken into account.
Experts have warned that these figures may be misleading, and that the real figure for both crimes in prison may be far higher than anticipated, as not all attacks are reported.
This investigation comes amid growing concern about safety within prisons, where prisoners and staff continue to face issues of overcrowding, staff reduction, and budget cuts, which the Guardian reports are ‘fuelled by more than a decade of austerity measures from successive Conservative-led governments’.
Nasrul Ismail also comments that the impact of austerity on the English prisons left them ‘unable to provide safe environments for rising prions populations’.
Andrew Neilson of the Howard League of Penal Reform commented that there has been ‘minimal research – and a worrying lack of coherent and consistently applied policies – in relation to consensual and coercive sex behind bars’. Neilson also stated that the Howard League has called for more prison staff to be given advanced training and guidance. He added that they know many experienced officers have left the workforce and prisons have ‘struggled to recruit and retain people to replace them’.
This comes after the government announced a £500 million funding injection last year to create thousands of new prison places in the UK.
The figures the Observer obtained indicated a sustained increase in reports of rape and sexual assaults in 2016, correlating with the period when there were cuts to the ministry of Justice (MOJ) budgets totalling £2.4 billion by 2015-2016, according to contemporary analysis by the Prison Reform Trust.
The report also saw a sharp rise in reported rapes and sexual assault incidences in prison during the pandemic (2020-2021). During this period Greater Manchester police received 18 reports of rape and Wiltshire police received reports of three rapes in 2020, and four more in 2022, after receiving only three in the previous seven years combined.
A Prison Service spokesperson commented: ‘we take allegations of sexual assault extremely seriously and refer all incidents to the police for investigation. Our £125 million investment in security measures is making prisons safer, while we have also introduced round-the-clock prison helplines and body-worn cameras for all frontline staff.”