England and Wales prison population 2026| ��ƽ��

Prisoner population compared with operating capacity in England and Wales from January 2011 to April 2026

Characteristic	Prisoner population	Operational Capacity
Apr 26	85,704	89,765
Mar 26	87,292	89,795
Feb 26	87,367	89,792
Jan 26	87,212	89,671
Dec 25	86,596	89,464
Nov 25	87,332	89,334
Oct 25	87,413	89,311
Sep 25	87,336	89,437
Aug 25	88,273	89,627
Jul 25	87,966	89,373
Jun 25	87,334	89,573
May 25	88,103	89,551
Apr 25	88,084	89,228
Mar 25	87,919	88,925
Feb 25	87,199	88,635
Jan 25	86,463	88,662
Dec 24	85,618	88,688
Nov 24	86,038	88,876
Oct 24	85,867	89,008
Sep 24	86,526	89,412
Aug 24	88,350	89,543
Jul 24	87,479	88,862
Jun 24	87,360	88,818
May 24	87,177	88,914
Apr 24	87,481	88,889
Mar 24	87,699	88,935
Feb 24	87,973	89,041
Jan 24	87,538	89,004
Dec 23	87,216	88,987
Nov 23	87,930	88,924
Oct 23	87,801	88,945
Sep 23	87,793	88,561
Aug 23	87,063	87,891
Jul 23	86,602	87,573
Jun 23	85,851	86,859
May 23	85,415	86,201
Apr 23	84,658	85,855
Mar 23	84,372	85,503
Feb 23	83,844	85,063
Jan 23	82,792	84,548
Dec 22	82,176	84,385
Nov 22	82,839	84,035
Oct 22	82,063	83,687
Sep 22	81,309	83,723
Aug 22	81,274	83,017
Jul 22	80,984	82,899
Jun 22	80,476	82,759
May 22	80,185	82,505
Apr 22	79,729	82,326
Mar 22	79,744	81,752
Feb 22	79,724	81,537
Jan 22	79,412	81,292
Dec 21	79,092	81,195
Nov 21	79,685	80,880
Oct 21	79,380	80,852
Sep 21	78,830	80,778
Aug 21	78,750	80,641
Jul 21	78,488	80,653
Jun 21	78,176	80,801
May 21	78,034	80,312
Apr 21	77,771	80,464
Mar 21	78,008	80,477
Feb 21	77,932	80,651
Jan 21	77,983	80,680
Dec 20	78,618	80,823
Nov 20	78,746	80,959
Oct 20	78,977	81,149
Sep 20	79,138	81,144
Aug 20	79,372	81,251
Jul 20	79,563	81,363
Jun 20	79,393	81,357
May 20	79,958	81,495
Apr 20	81,039	85,113
Mar 20	83,052	85,191
Feb 20	83,654	84,645
Jan 20	83,077	84,657
Dec 19	82,771	84,830
Nov 19	83,255	84,875
Oct 19	83,536	84,661
Sep 19	83,518	84,524
Aug 19	82,904	84,672
Jul 19	82,780	84,739
Jun 19	82,422	84,664
May 19	82,368	84,368
Apr 19	82,293	84,364
Mar 19	82,417	84,473
Feb 19	82,293	84,615
Jan 19	82,233	84,687
Dec 18	82,148	84,808
Nov 18	82,852	84,870
Oct 18	83,042	85,172
Sep 18	82,788	85,061
Aug 18	82,839	85,351
Jul 18	82,728	85,926
Jun 18	82,649	86,099
May 18	83,097	86,163
Apr 18	83,334	86,129
Mar 18	83,510	86,123
Feb 18	83,857	86,396
Jan 18	84,157	86,357
Dec 17	84,399	86,680
Nov 17	85,556	86,768
Oct 17	85,409	86,560
Sep 17	85,367	86,487
Aug 17	85,483	86,237
Jul 17	85,349	86,081
Jun 17	85,047	85,877
May 17	84,517	85,769
Apr 17	84,353	85,763
Mar 17	84,652	85,543
Feb 17	84,664	85,786
Jan 17	84,299	85,623
Dec 16	84,069	85,316
Nov 16	84,976	86,003
Oct 16	85,108	86,146
Sep 16	84,708	85,996
Aug 16	84,261	86,047
Jul 16	84,270	86,149
Jun 16	84,323	86,198
May 16	84,623	86,623
Apr 16	84,686	86,729
Mar 16	85,064	87,024
Feb 16	84,868	87,029
Jan 16	84,718	86,997
Dec 15	84,093	86,556
Nov 15	84,668	86,443
Oct 15	84,578	86,444
Sep 15	84,793	86,781
Aug 15	84,574	86,698
Jul 15	84,857	85,815
Jun 15	84,684	85,526
May 15	84,225	85,331
Apr 15	83,942	85,300
Mar 15	84,443	85,130
Feb 15	84,672	85,068
Jan 15	84,175	84,815
Dec 14	84,093	86,556
Nov 14	84,668	86,443
Oct 14	84,578	86,444
Sep 14	84,793	86,781
Aug 14	84,574	86,698
Jul 14	84,857	85,815
Jun 14	84,684	85,526
May 14	84,225	85,331
Apr 14	83,942	85,300
Mar 14	84,443	85,130
Feb 14	84,672	85,068
Jan 14	84,175	84,815
Dec 13	83,619	85,111
Nov 13	84,592	85,526
Oct 13	84,453	85,204
Sep 13	83,684	86,884
Aug 13	83,302	86,880
Jul 13	83,223	86,894
Jun 13	83,005	86,918
May 13	83,055	87,031
Apr 13	83,314	87,026
Mar 13	83,852	87,136
Feb 13	83,637	88,145
Jan 13	83,062	89,237
Dec 12	83,205	89,574
Nov 12	85,228	89,987
Oct 12	85,495	90,186
Sep 12	85,690	90,216
Aug 12	85,904	90,029
Jul 12	85,942	89,482
Jun 12	85,617	89,238
May 12	86,182	89,273
Apr 12	86,296	88,883
Mar 12	87,080	88,622
Feb 12	86,861	88,467
Jan 12	86,919	88,407
Dec 11	86,131	88,480
Nov 11	87,348	88,392
Oct 11	86,754	88,338
Sep 11	86,751	87,580
Aug 11	86,233	87,454
Jul 11	84,902	87,203
Jun 11	84,634	87,148
May 11	84,529	87,163
Apr 11	84,883	87,165
Mar 11	84,905	87,090
Feb 11	85,206	88,286
Jan 11	84,145	88,009

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Sources

Release date

May 2026

More information

Region

United Kingdom (England, Wales)

Survey time period

January 2011to April 2026

Supplementary notes

Historical data obtained from Institute for Government at ""

This statistic uses original data from the Ministry of Justice and includes copyright material from © Crown, licensed under the .

The source adds the following information: "The operational capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold, taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime."

Citation formats

In April 2026, the prisoner population of England and Wales stood at around 85,700 while the operating capacity of prisons was almost 89,800.