Lord Falconer, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to the publication of the latest Safety in Custody statistics, said:

“These are damning figures that once again lay bare the true state of our prisons and the damage that the Tories have done to our criminal justice system.

“Violent, under-staffed prisons will never be able to rehabilitate prisoners, challenge re-offending behaviour or protect victims of crime.

“If Ministers are serious about reform the rhetoric needs to match the reality and they need to urgently tackle the chaos in our prisons.”