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Change to PPO post-release death investigation remit

Published:

As of 6 September 2026, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s timeframe for investigating deaths that occur following release from prison has changed from 14 days to seven days.

Ombudsman Adrian Usher made this decision as the majority of these deaths investigated by the PPO since 2021 occurred within the first seven days following release from prison.

Since 2021 we have not identified any difference in the learning between deaths that occur within the first and second week following release from custody, therefore I am confident that reducing the timeframe for investigating these type of deaths will not reduce opportunities to identify learning.

I remain committed to ensuring our investigations contribute to reducing preventable deaths so we will continue to monitor deaths occurring between 8 and 14 days post-release to understand the impact on caseload, resource and learning”.
Adrian Usher

Our stakeholders were informed of this change prior to 6 September and we retain discretion to investigate a death outside the seven-day period post-release. Our remit continues to exclude homicides.