Background

In November 2019, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice commissioned an independent review into the response to deaths occurring in prison custody, in recognition of the need for increased transparency and better engagement with families following a death in prison custody. The Independent Review of the Response to Deaths in Prison Custody published in November 2021 made one key recommendation, nineteen other recommendations and six advisory points.

A Deaths in Prison Custody Action Group (DiPCAG) was established to oversee and support the work required to ensure effective, innovative and robust implementation of the recommendations and advisory points. Membership of the group is made up of representatives of agencies with responsibility for responding to deaths in prison custody (such as the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), National Health Service (NHS) Scotland and Scottish Government), along with representatives of those bereaved by a death in prison custody.

The Independent Review of the Response to Deaths in Prison Custody identified the need to improve the range of data that is available on deaths that occur in prison custody. The DiPCAG supported this by establishing an Understanding and Preventing Deaths in Prison working group. An initial report was published in August 2023, providing an overview and analysis of the data published by SPS on deaths in prison custody in Scotland for the period 2012 to 2022. This highlighted that the number of deaths occurring in prison custody had been rising overall over that period. 

A more developed statistical release covering the period 2012-13 to 2022-23 was published in March 2025. Using data provided by SPS and the National Records of Scotland (NRS), the March 2025  release provided information on the number of deaths occurring in prison custody, causes of death, and compared deaths in prison custody against deaths occurring in the general population of Scotland. Data on prison population levels for the reporting period was taken from the accredited official Prison Population statistics. 

This latest statistical release provides an update covering the reporting period 2012-13 to 2023-24 and reflects the latest available official statistics on cause of death and the general population from NRS. The findings presented in this report should be viewed in the context of the prison population during the period covered by the data, and not more recent prison population figures.

An Official Statistics in Development Publication for Scotland

These statistics, and previous releases in this series, are official statistics in development. Official statistics in development may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users and producers of the data, in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

It is intended that the analyses presented to date will help to improve knowledge and understanding around deaths occurring in prison custody in Scotland and highlight trends and patterns over time to help inform development of related policy and practice.

User engagement will seek views on the value and accessibility of the data and to understand which aspects of the data are most important to users. This information will be used to develop future reporting on deaths in prison custody in Scotland. This process has already begun and will continue.

If you wish to share any views on this report, or the development plan, please get in touch with the lead statistician.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

More information about Scottish Government statistics is available on the Scottish Government website.

Further Information and Wider Context

This report provides an overview of high-level trends in deaths in prison custody over the period 2012-13 to 2023-24. The report presents a high-level summary of deaths in prison custody and therefore does not reflect the individual personal stories of the people involved.

In this report, the causes of deaths occurring in prison custody between 2012-13 and 2023-24 are examined. Deaths occurring in prison custody between 2012-13 and 2023-24 are also compared with deaths occurring in the general Scottish population, and the relative risk of death in prison custody is explored using standardised mortality ratios (SMRs).

The analyses presented in this report should not be taken as indicative that the risk of death changes specifically because of an individual being in prison custody. Underlying contributory or determinant factors have not been examined in this analysis.

This report does not draw on information presented in Fatal Accident Inquiry determinations.

More information about Fatal Accident Inquiries, and their deteminations, can be found on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service website.

In January 2026, Sheriff Principal Ian Abercrombie KC’s Independent Review of Fatal Accident Inquiries report was published.