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.
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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.
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There were just 1,098 spare cells on 6 September 2024 with prisons 98.7% full, according to the MoJ.
Around 1,700 people were then freed on 10 September, with the number of spare places – called the headroom – rising to 3,219 on 10 September 2024.
The following month, the government found itself in a similar position. Prisons were 98.1% full, with only 1,671 spare cells, as of 21st October. The next day, around 1,100 prisoners were freed, raising the headroom to 3,141.
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But now the prison estate is in an even worse position, with figures showing the population steadily rising since the start of the year. There were more than 85,000 prisoners behind bars at the start of January, and this has now increased by some 2,500.
The government’s early release scheme also faced criticism at the time, with the Conservatives branding it a “rookie error by an arrogant and inexperienced government”.
Numerous other methods are being tried to prevent prison overcrowding, with the government revealing plans to use an emergency measure so that cells in police stations could be used to house inmates.
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Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has also refused to rule out shortening sentences of violent offenders – potentially including these criminals in any future early release schemes.
Just last week, Sky News learned that an independent policy review will suggest restricting the use of shorter sentences to send 9,500 fewer people to prison by 2028.
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Prison situation ‘unsustainable’
Responding to the figures, Andrew Neilson, the director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Prisons have been asked to do too much, with too little, for too long, and these prison population figures show that even the early release of thousands of people has not been able to solve this problem for good.”
He added that more than half of prisons are overcrowded and said “the situation is unsustainable”.
“Overcrowding and lack of resourcing are contributing to a failing system where the needs of people in prison are overlooked and unmet,” he said.
“It could not be clearer that further action is necessary. Ministers have acknowledged that they cannot build their way out of this crisis.
“We must send fewer people to prison, curb the use of recall after release, and prioritise delivering an effective and responsive probation service that works to cut crime in the community.”
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An MoJ spokesperson said the government “inherited overcrowded prisons, days from collapse”.
“We introduced emergency measures last summer but we were always clear that longer term action was required,” they said.
“This includes delivering 14,000 new prison places by 2031, with 900 already delivered and 1,500 more opening this summer. We will also reform sentencing to ensure no government runs out of prison space again.”
