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<p>We publish the number of incidents where weapons were found in prison in England
and Wales in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmpps-annual-digest-april-2021-to-march-2022"
target="_blank">HMPPS Annual Digest</a>, the latest issue covering the period from
April 2021 to March 2022. HMPPS also records the category of weapons found during
these incidents:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Total weapon finds</p></td><td><p>Blunt
instrument</p></td><td><p>Firearms</p></td><td><p>Knife/bladed article</p></td><td><p>Other
weapon</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>7,157</p></td><td><p>1,145</p></td><td><p>15</p></td><td><p>4,089</p></td><td><p>2,130</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>9,722</p></td><td><p>1,789</p></td><td><p>21</p></td><td><p>5,322</p></td><td><p>2,834</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019-20</p></td><td><p>11,267</p></td><td><p>2,164</p></td><td><p>21</p></td><td><p>6,285</p></td><td><p>3,028</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020-21</p></td><td><p>7,178</p></td><td><p>1,599</p></td><td><p>16</p></td><td><p>3,753</p></td><td><p>1,969</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021-22</p></td><td><p>8,057</p></td><td><p>1,951</p></td><td><p>26</p></td><td><p>3,994</p></td><td><p>2,299</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong>Data
Sources and Quality</strong></p><p>These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident
Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail
is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although
shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.</p><p>Incidents
where weapons were found in prison custody can include finds of multiple weapons;
the figures in the table count the number of incidents where a weapon was found rather
than the number of weapons.</p><p>One incident can also include multiple types of
weapons, so the sum of the individual types can exceed the total number of incidents.
This also means that blunt instrument find incidents, which are a separate type, cannot
be added into 'other weapon' find incidents without risk of double-counting some incidents.</p>
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