Investigating fatal incidents

We investigate all deaths that occur in prison or young offender institutions, probation approved premises (often known as hostels), and immigration removal centres, whatever the cause of death.

Sometimes, we also investigate the death of someone recently released from custody.

Some people may have died of natural causes, others may have taken their own life, while for some the cause of death may initially be unknown. Our investigation tries to provide answers to family and friends about what happened. If failings are found, recommendations for improvements are made.

After each investigation we produce an anonymised fatal incident report, which you can view in the Publications section.

Explore this section:

• How we investigate fatal incidents
  The process we go through when investigating a death in custody.
• Family liaison
  Our family liaison team support and update families on the investigation into the death of their loved one.
• Fatal incident FAQs
  Answers to the most common questions we receive about our investigation of fatal incidents.
• Disclosure policy
  At the heart of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s work on fatal incidents is a commitment to full, fair, open and transparent investigations..