A prisoner at HMP Manchester faces nearly a one-in-40 chance of being seriously assaulted by another inmate this year. That's double the odds they faced just 12 months ago.

While politicians spent this week arguing over whether Keir Starmer is "appeasing" big tech firms over online safety, the violence inside Britain's prisons has exploded to levels not seen in decades.

Serious prisoner-on-prisoner assaults jumped 91% in 2023, reaching 24.4 attacks per 1,000 prisoners. To put that in perspective: if you locked up 1,000 people today, nearly 25 would suffer a serious assault from another prisoner within a year.

This isn't just a statistical blip. It's the culmination of a system under extraordinary pressure. The 2023 figure represents the highest rate of serious prison violence in the Ministry of Justice's modern records.

What counts as a "serious" assault? These are attacks requiring medical treatment, causing permanent injury, or involving weapons. The kind that land prisoners in hospital wings or leave lasting damage.

The numbers reveal a prison system where violence has become routine. In practical terms, this means that across Britain's 117 prisons, holding roughly 88,000 people, more than 2,100 serious assaults occurred between prisoners last year alone.

The surge comes at a time when prisons are more overcrowded than ever, with some facilities operating at 150% capacity. When you pack more people into the same space with fewer resources and staff, violence becomes almost inevitable.

But here's what makes this particularly troubling: these are just the serious assaults. The total number of prisoner-on-prisoner attacks, including minor incidents, tells an even grimmer story of institutions where conflict has spiralled out of control.

While MPs debate social media regulation and online harms, the physical harm happening behind prison walls has reached crisis levels. The 2022 rate of 12.8 serious assaults per 1,000 prisoners already represented a significant problem. Nearly doubling that figure in a single year suggests a system in freefall.

This matters beyond prison walls. Inmates experiencing or witnessing serious violence are less likely to successfully reintegrate into society upon release. Violence breeds violence, and what happens inside prison doesn't stay there.

The timing is particularly stark. As politicians focus their attention on regulating tech giants and online spaces, the most vulnerable people in state custody face record levels of physical danger in Britain's most secure facilities.