Deaths in Custody and Investigations in Scotland in 2025
source: SCCJR
published: October 2026
Image Credit: Sourced by 4WardEverUK
This publication by the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research is the fifth annual monitoring report on deaths in custody in Scotland and their investigation.
It presents information about deaths in:
- prison
- police custody and contact
- migration detention and asylum accommodation
- detention or compulsory order under the Mental Health Act
- children and young people in care
- people with learning disabilities and autistic people living in hospital
In 2025 at least 261 people in Scotland died in one of these settings of state control (five per week on average) which is more than the previous years’ figures.
The aims of report are to answer these questions:
- How many people die in state custody in Scotland?
- What do we know about those who die?
- How effective are investigations and responses to death?
This year’s report greatly benefitted from additional research support, for which we are deeply grateful, from: PhD researchers Chloe Ezou and Ambrose McMonagle, and Masters students Emma Alan, Maisie Chapman, Jernie Friesen, Pravitha Kavitha Pradeeep, Rory Sinclair, Lily Stubbs, and Erin Ward.
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