England and Wales prison population 2024

In September 2024, the prisoner population of England and Wales stood at 86,526 while the operating capacity of prisons was 89,412. This meant that as of this month, the spare capacity of prisons in England and Wales was just 2,886, an increase on the previous month, when approximately 1,193 prison places were available.

Prisoner population compared with operating capacity in England and Wales from January 2011 to September 2024

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

Zoomable Statistic: Select the range in the chart you want to zoom in on.

Loading statistic...

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Sources

Use Ask Statista Research Service

Release date

October 2024

More information

Region

United Kingdom (England, Wales)

Survey time period

January 2011 to September 2024

Supplementary notes

Historical data obtained from Institute for Government at "The Crisis in Prisons"

This statistic uses original data from the Ministry of Justice and includes copyright material from © Crown, licensed under the Open Government License v3.0.

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