Prisons across England and Wales now 98.9% full
15 April 2025, 11:50 | Updated: 15 April 2025, 18:53
Prisons across England and Wales are at their highest capacity for months, with fewer cells available than at any time this year.
There are fewer than 1,000 spare prison cells across England and Wales, a record low for this year.
Only 961 spaces are now available, meaning prisons are now almost 98.9% full, according to new government figures.
It means the prison estate is now under more strain than it has been for months, including when the government was forced to release around 3,000 prisoners early to avoid overcrowding in autumn last year.
The Howard League, a charity calling for reform of the prison system, said it shows the system is "failing" and "unsustainable". It added it "could not be clearer that further action is necessary" and called on the government to send fewer people to prison.
What do the new figures show?
The number of free cells has not fallen below 1,000 for at least the past six months - but now it has, meaning there is only 1.1% capacity spare.
There are just 551 empty places in men's prisons, and 261 in women's prisons across England and Wales, as of 14 April.
Within the Youth Custody Service, there are 141 empty cells, though this area is thought less of a problem in terms of overcrowding.
Ministers will be under renewed pressure to act as prisons have reached 98.9% capacity, with 88,081 men and women serving custodial sentences, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The statistics also show more than 3,200 prisoners are already serving their sentences at home. This means they will typically be subject to strict conditions such as curfews and bans on drinking, which can be monitored by an electronic tag.
Could another 'emergency decision' be on the horizon?
This is a worse position than before either early release carried out last year, when some inmates were freed after serving only 40% of their sentences, rather than the usual 50%.
At the time, the government called it an "emergency decision" and blamed the Conservatives for not creating more capacity while in power.
