02/08/2026
Between 2019 and March 2025, more than one person a day died in the year since leaving prison.
The figures come from a study by Nacro which states that a person released from prison is more likely to die within three months of release than the average member of the public is in the entire year. In the period of the study, 2,447 people died within a year of leaving prison.
The study, āReducing deaths among prison leaversā highlights how factors such as homelessness, drug dependence and lack of immediate access to healthcare have contributed to the grim stats. These are key challenges faced by many of our guests ā and issues that your support helps us to address.
Drug-related deaths account for 40% of deaths within the year after release. As many as a third of all deaths in the two weeks post-release were among people who were released into homelessness.
The report states that if all people in prison with a history of opioid misuse received substitution therapy on their last day in prison, it could reduce the rate of drug-related deaths immediately post-release by 16%. Alongside this, increased provision of naloxone to prison leavers with a history of opioid use, and improved support to connect prison leavers to community health services, would help reduce the risk of them dying post-release.
