ASSAULTS at Channings Wood prison are at their lowest level for five years, it has been revealed.

Figures obtained by a legal claims firm show the number of prisoner-on-prisoner attacks and assaults on prison staff at the Category C prison at Denbury have bucked the national trend.

Violence in UK prisons has reached record levels in other UK prisons with assaults rising due to overcrowding.

However, at Channings Wood Prison, which had a population of 733 inmates in 2024, figures have seen a sharp drop.

In 2024/25, Channings Wood Prison recorded 60 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, representing a 56 per cent decrease from a year earlier.

Claims firm Legal Expert obtained figures on how many prison staff assaults have taken place at Channings Wood Prison over the past five years.

The number of assaults on staff at the prison has dropped from 41 in 2020/21 to 17 in 2024/25, which is a 59per cent decrease.

The government recently announced a £40 million investment in new security measures aimed at reducing violence behind bars.

The prison population has increased annually for the last thirty years, rising from 43,000 in 1994 to more than 88,000 in 2024.

The government’s ‘Plan for Change’ aims to build 14,000 extra prison places by 2031, and the new investment will help combat the flow of contraband, which creates unsafe environments in jails.

Despite this, the number of uniformed officers employed to care for and protect those committed by the Courts has remained almost static.