Adrian Usher, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), wants an independent body to examine prison staff conduct.
He made the call in his third annual report, published in July 2026. He described the issue as his most serious concern about HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).
“HMPPS is the largest public service body that I can bring to mind that has no independent oversight of staff conduct,” he said. He added that investigations and any disciplinary hearings take place inside the same institution where the staff member works.
Mr Usher said the system exposed a “very stark and obvious difference” in outcomes. Police officers and prison officers under investigation faced very different consequences, he said. Often the actions in question took place in very similar circumstances.
Lost property
The report covers the 2025 to 2026 financial year. The PPO received 5,226 complaints, of which 5,022 came from prisoners.
Property was the largest single category, at 34 per cent of all complaints. It also had the highest uphold rate, at just over 50 per cent. Lost property is consistently the top theme of complaints to Independent Prisoner Complaint Investigations (IPCI). This is the PPO service that looks into prisoners’ grievances.
Mr Usher’s team and HMPPS are running a pilot in 10 prisons. It aims to find a more efficient way to deal with property complaints. He says prisons lack the incentive to focus properly on resolving complaints early. Over the year, the PPO referred 95 complaints back to prisons for review. In its view, the prisons had done too little to resolve them.
Deaths in custody
The PPO investigates every death in custody, and every death within 14 days of release. Mr Usher said the number of deaths remains high, with 455 fatal incident investigations started this year. In 2025/26 these included 84 self-inflicted deaths.
“The rate of self-inflicted deaths means that a prisoner in England and Wales will kill themselves approximately every five days,” he said.
Susannah Eagle is the Deputy Ombudsman for fatal incident investigations. She and Mr Usher said this year’s investigations showed an uneven spread of risk. The Long-Term High Security Estate and reception prisons have the highest levels of self-inflicted deaths. Earlier in the year, the PPO published a related finding. It showed that 11 per cent of self-inflicted deaths happen within the first 48 hours after arrival at a reception prison. Mr Usher called this “a sobering statistic”.
Drug-related deaths made up 13 per cent of the prison deaths the PPO investigated in 2025/26. The report links this to sophisticated drone technology and unknown chemical compounds with unpredictable effects. Among deaths after release, 54 per cent fell into the category of “other non-natural deaths”, which are typically drug-related.
The report says the 235 deaths from natural causes over the year raised important questions about prisoners’ healthcare and treatment. A PPO study called for better practice in supporting prisoners with epilepsy. Their remission rate is lower than that of people in the community. The PPO also began investigations into eight homicides, 60 per cent more than the year before.
Separately, a PPO project revealed the full scale of what happened at Medomsley Detention Centre in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Thousands of young offenders suffered brutal treatment there. The victims received public apologies from the government, Durham Police and the Independent Monitoring Board. The project also led to the Youth Custody Safeguarding Panel and to Isabelle Trowler’s review of safeguarding in youth custody.
The PPO has also begun an independent review of the restraint of pregnant women at medical appointments. It will report in the next financial year.
