Weekly bulletin
The Ministry of Justice publishes the national prison population every Friday. It is the most current figure available anywhere — the establishment-level data elsewhere on this site comes from the monthly release, which runs several months behind.
- People held
- 86,834
- Useable operational capacity
- 88,947
- Places left
- 2,113
Week ending 26 Oct 2026. Source bulletin
Reading these figures
Useable operational capacity is every establishment’s operational capacity added together, less an operating margin of around 2,000 places. The margin exists because a prison place is not interchangeable: people have to be held in the right kind of accommodation for their sex, age, security category and conviction status, and in the right part of the country. So the gap between population and useable operational capacity is the real headroom in the system, and when it narrows the estate has nowhere to put people even if beds exist somewhere.
This is a national figure. For crowding at individual establishments, which is measured differently — population against certified normal accommodation — see the Custody Map.
Recent weeks
| Week ending | Held | Useable capacity | Places left |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Oct 2026 | 86,834 | 88,947 | 2,113 |
| 19 Oct 2026 | 86,557 | 88,972 | 2,415 |
| 12 Oct 2026 | 87,033 | 88,984 | 1,951 |
| 5 Oct 2026 | 86,779 | 89,012 | 2,233 |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 87,499 | 89,055 | 1,556 |
| 21 Sept 2026 | 87,245 | 89,020 | 1,775 |
| 14 Sept 2026 | 87,111 | 88,986 | 1,875 |
| 7 Sept 2026 | 86,868 | 88,943 | 2,075 |
| 24 Aug 2026 | 86,843 | 88,937 | 2,094 |
| 17 Aug 2026 | 86,722 | 88,921 | 2,199 |
Source: Ministry of Justice weekly population bulletin, Open Government Licence v3.0.