Prison population (England and Wales)

Source: Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service, series Population bulletin: weekly (Monday population, useable operational capacity, headroom). Published weekly, usually on the Monday it describes. Machine route: the GOV.UK Content API (no key) for the publication returns JSON listing each weekly .ods attachment, newest first; the .ods 'Data' sheet holds the figures. The publication URL changes each calendar year (…-2026)

What it measures

The prison population is the number of people held in prisons in England and Wales on a given day, including people serving sentences, people on remand awaiting trial or sentence, and people held under immigration powers in prisons. The Ministry of Justice publishes the figure every week for the Monday, with a split by adult male, female and the youth custody service, alongside useable operational capacity (the number of places that can be safely used) and headroom (the difference between the two). Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate prison systems and publish their own figures.

How to read it

The weekly figure is a management count for a single day, so it moves up and down with court activity and releases; compare it with the same Monday a year earlier, which the bulletin shows. Policy changes such as early release schemes can cause sudden falls. Headroom shows how close prisons are to full capacity. For breakdowns by offence, sentence length, age or ethnicity, use the quarterly Offender management statistics, which are the official statistics and are published with a lag. The Ministry of Justice also publishes projections of future prison numbers. A UK total needs Scottish and Northern Ireland figures added, which are published on different dates.

Background

The Ministry of Justice has published weekly prison population figures for many years, archived by year on GOV.UK. For Monday 12 October 2026 it reported 87,033 people in prison against useable operational capacity of 88,984, leaving headroom of 1,951; the figure 12 months earlier, for 13 October 2025, was 87,432. The Home Detention Curfew caseload, people released early under electronic monitoring, was 3,206.

Other parts of the UK

Scottish Government: Scottish prison population statistics 2024-25 · Department of Justice Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland prison population 2024/25

How full are prisons in England and Wales?

The weekly Ministry of Justice bulletin gives the prison population, useable operational capacity and the headroom between them. On Monday 12 October 2026 the population was 87,033 and useable operational capacity 88,984, leaving 1,951 places. Capacity changes as places open, close or are taken out of use for repairs.

How many women are in prison in England and Wales?

The weekly bulletin splits the population into adult male, female and youth custody. On Monday 12 October 2026 there were 3,397 women in prison in England and Wales. The quarterly Offender management statistics give more detail on women in prison, including sentence lengths and offences.

What is the prison population in Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Prisons are devolved. The Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Government publish figures for Scotland, and the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland publishes an annual report on the average daily prison population there. Use those sources, with their dates, when building a UK-wide total.

Related questions

• What is the UK prison population?
• What is the average prison sentence in the UK?
• What is the Crown Court backlog?

More on this source: Ministry of Justice statistics, police.uk and data.police.uk