Ministry of Justice · Offender management statistics quarterly: annual prison population tables

Prison population at month end, 2015 onwards

June 2026 Final

85,858people

Prison population at month end, 2015 onwards was 85,858 people in June 2026, down 0.1% (63) from 85,921 in May 2026.

▼ 0.1% · −63 against May 2026 (previous period)

Ministry of Justice count
June 2026
published 30 July 2026
Table 1.A.1
row “Male and female”
column “30 June 2026”
cell value 85858

June 2015 to June 2026

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

What this measures

The number of people held in prisons in England and Wales at the end of each month from June 2015, across all ages and custody types, from Table 1.A.1 of the Ministry of Justice's annual prison population tables.

What this doesn’t measure

The population on a Monday (the modern weekly basis), people in immigration removal centres or police cells, or prisons in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Important caveat

Prison population in England and Wales at the end of the month (30 June only for 2002 to 2009), from the Ministry of Justice's annual prison population tables. Month-end snapshots are a different basis from the weekly Monday bulletin used by the modern series and from the annual average. From 2010 the figures are taken from a new prison IT system; the Ministry of Justice published June 2009 on both the old and new systems "to aid comparison" and the earlier-system figure is shown here. Figures are drawn from administrative systems and small unmarked revisions can occur between editions.

When the way this was measured changed

A series can move because the thing being measured changed, or because the way of measuring it changed. Each change below is marked on the chart, and says what the figures meant on either side of it.

August 2026 · definition change

Before: Month-end snapshot taken from the annual tables.
After: Monday snapshot taken from the weekly bulletin.

The modern prison population series is the Ministry of Justice's weekly bulletin, a Monday snapshot from 24 August 2026; this series is the month-end snapshot from the annual tables and the two are different days of the month, not a continuation of one another.

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: annual prison population tables
Release: Annual prison population: 2026 (data to 30 June 2026), published 30 July 2026
Source file: prison-population-2026.ods
File SHA-256: 6a3903869a9d3b5ad672cefa20f4f36572ab1de63b10be21a57818501ea15269
Retrieved: 2 September 2026
Sheet: Table_1_A_1
Table: Table 1.A.1
Row: Male and female
Column: 30 June 2026
Cell value: 85858
Geography: England and Wales
Unit: people
API: /api/metrics/prison_population_monthly_2015 · /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.

Labour 2024–	87,726June 2024	85,858June 2026	↓ 2.1%
Conservative 2019–2024	83,256November 2019	87,726June 2024	↑ 5.4%
Conservative 2017–2019	85,376May 2017	83,256November 2019	↓ 2.5%

Full comparison with chart

Release: Annual prison population: 2026 (data to 30 June 2026) · publication page
Last updated: 30 July 2026
Next scheduled release: 29 July 2027 (official date)