1 May 2026
Persistently high levels of self-harm in women’s prisons point to a continuing crisis in the provision of mental health support for women in custody.
The alarming rates of repeat incidents are particularly concerning – suggesting that those caught in cycles of harm are not receiving the sustained, targeted support they need.
Our analysis of the latest Safety in Custody data, released yesterday by the Ministry of Justice, highlights a number of troubling trends, as well as specific groups within the women’s estate that are disproportionately affected.
Key findings
- Women in prison self-harm at nine times the rate that men do.
- 1,175 women in custody (1 in 3) self-harmed in 2025
- Women that self-harmed did so on average 17.1 times per year.
- Young women, particularly those aged 18-20, continue to be an acutely vulnerable demographic.
- Women on remand account for a growing proportion of self-harm incidents in custody.
In 2025, there were 20,055 incidents of self-harm in women’s prisons – the equivalent of 55 incidents per day. This amounts to a rate of 5,730 incidents per 1,000 prisoners in the women’s estate (Figure 1), which is nine times higher than the rate for men (631). Whilst this marks a small decline from the peak of women’s self-harm incidents in 2024, the rate remains more than double that recorded in 2018.
Repeat incidents are of particular concern. On average, women who self-harm now do so 17.1 times per year. This is more than double the 2018 figure of 8.3 incidents per woman. In 2025, 75 women self-harmed more than 50 times. This sharp rise in both the frequency and repetition of incidents points to a gap in effective support for women who have previously self-harmed.
While self-harm is at crisis point across the women’s estate, we have identified groups that are particularly vulnerable.
Girls and young women
Gender disparities in self-harm begin at a young age, with girls in youth custody self-harming more than ten times the rate of boys. In 2025, 19 girls self-harmed 364 times – with girls that self-harmed doing so on average 19.2 times each.
This continues into early adulthood. Young women in the criminal justice system are consistently vulnerable to self-harm. Despite making up around 8% of women in custody, the 2025 statistics show that young women aged 18-24 account for 41% of self-harm incidents in the women’s estate, with young women who self-harm doing so on average more than 39 times per year. Young women aged 18-20 are particularly affected by self-harm – making up just 2% of women in custody, but 16% of self-harm incidents. These findings highlight the need for targeted mental health and wellbeing support for girls and young women in custody that is responsive to both their age and their gender.
Custody status
Whilst the increase in incidents of self-harm can be seen across custody statuses, women in remand are emerging as a particularly vulnerable demographic.
The number of incidents of women on remand self-harming has almost quadrupled since 2018, whilst the number of women on remand has less than doubled in the same period of time.
Women on remand went from accounting for 14% of the total number of incidents of women self-harming in 2018, to accounting for 29% of total incidents of women in custody self-harming in 2025 (Figure 2).
Whilst a lack of disaggregated data is a barrier to breaking these custody status trends down into age group, we do know that a larger proportion of young women (18-20) are held on remand, which could indicate that young women on remand are particularly at risk.
Women struggling with mental ill-health need specialist, well-funded support in the community – not a custodial sentence. However, where women are held in custody, it is clear that a gender- and trauma-informed approach is needed to ensure that women experiencing poor mental health receive appropriate support – including support which accounts for young women’s distinct and age-specific needs. We support the Women’s Justice Board’s recent recommendation that the Ministry of Justice develop and publish a Young Women’s Strategy in the next year, as well as their recommendation for the Ministry of Justice to provide specific health and wellbeing support for young women in contact with the criminal justice system, including those in prison.
Further information
- Agenda Alliance's Young Women's Justice Project, originally developed in partnership with Alliance for Youth Justice, is the first national project advocating for the specific needs of young women aged 18-25 in contact or at risk of the criminal justice system.
- In 2023, we published 'A Call to Action', which highlighted that, in 2022, the number of self-harm incidents amongst young women aged 21-24 in custody surpassed all other age groups.
- We recently responded to the 2026 Women’s Justice Board report, where we urged the government to centre the needs of young women in policy and commit to the Women’s Justice Board’s recommendation of publishing a Young Women’s Strategy within the next year.