Ministry of Justice · Offender management statistics quarterly: prison population

Prison population by age

June 2026 Final

85,858people

Prison population by age were 85,858 people at 30 June 2026, down 1.7% (1,476) from 87,334 at 30 June 2025.

▼ 1.7% · −1,476 against June 2025 (year on year)

Ministry of Justice snapshot
June 2026
published 30 July 2026
Table 1.Q.6
row “Sex=Male and female; Custody type group=All custody types; Age band=All ages”
column “30 June 2026”
cell value 85858

June 2025 to June 2026

Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

The prison population of England and Wales at the end of each quarter, split by age band.

What this doesn’t measure

Age at sentencing or at reception; ages are as at the snapshot date.

Important caveat

These are Ministry of Justice accredited official statistics from Prison-NOMIS and the Digital Prison Service, counted as at the last day of the month shown. They differ slightly from the weekly management bulletin, which counts the population on a Monday. Ethnicity and nationality are as recorded on the prison system and a small share is not stated or not recorded; religion codes were streamlined in June 2025 so earlier religion figures are not comparable. The offence group table (Table 1.Q.5) counts prisoners under an immediate custodial sentence and its total differs by a small number from the Sentenced custody type group in Table 1.Q.1. Figures for secure children's homes and secure training centres may not match the youth custody publication because of different methodologies and snapshot dates.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher: Ministry of Justice
Publication: Offender management statistics quarterly: prison population
Release: Prison population as at 30 June 2026, published 30 July 2026
Source file: prison-population-30-June-2026.ods
File SHA-256: 9f832c04e75831f86a60287515833feb4504b6a871037542a6d7319cbe8e4c96
Retrieved: 2 September 2026
Sheet: Table_1_Q_6
Table: Table 1.Q.6
Row: Sex=Male and female; Custody type group=All custody types; Age band=All ages
Column: 30 June 2026
Cell value: 85858
Geography: England and Wales
Unit: people
API: /api/metrics/prison_population_by_age · /series · /vintages

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Full comparison with chart

Release: Prison population as at 30 June 2026 · publication page
Last updated: 30 July 2026
Next release expected: October 2026 (estimated from the usual cadence)