Assaults in women’s prisons triple in a decade to hit record high, with more violence than men’s jails

Women’s jails are the most violent they have ever been, with assaults tripling in a decade to hit an all-time high, according to “shameful” new figures laying bare the havoc and despair in Britain’s overcrowded prison system.

With 488 assaults for every 1,000 inmates, the rate of violence in the 3,600-strong women’s prison estate – which saw a total of 1,630 assaults in the year to September – is now far worse than among men, where the rate is 40 per cent lower.

While serious violence has historically been much worse in men’s prisons, the rate in the women’s estate is now almost identical for the first time with 110 serious assaults, 39 of them against prison staff.

In one instance illustrating the link between violence and unmet needs, reported in May by the Independent Monitoring Board,