Get the facts on crime
Crime is difficult to measure and that makes it easy to be alarmed by newspaper reports that might not tell the whole story. We look behind the headline figures and put them in context
Get the facts on… The state of prisons Violent crime The police
Latest crime fact checks
The number of prison escapes has been falling since the 1990s
We looked into the figures after the PM claimed prison escapes were 10 times higher under the last Labour government.
The number of band 3-5 prison officers increased by 701 in the year to 30 June 2023
Justice secretary Alex Chalk claimed that the number of full-time equivalent band 3-5 prison staff had increased by over 700 “since 30 June 2023”.
Minister overstates increase in prison officer numbers
Michelle Donelan MP wrongly claimed the number of frontline prison officers has “increased by 20%” in the last year.
