Prison population in England and Wales hits record high

The prison population in England and Wales has hit a record high, Ministry of Justice figures show.

Some 88,350 people were in prison as of 30 August, up 116 from 88,234 a week ago.

It is a jump of nearly 1,000 from four weeks ago and the highest end-of-week figure since weekly population data was first published in 2011.

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It also surpasses the highest number of prisoners England and Wales has ever recorded, which was 88,336 at the end of February 2024, based on separate figures for the end-of-month population size.

The sharp rise was likely driven by the number of jail sentences handed to those found guilty of taking part in the recent disorder across parts of the country.

The prison population in England and Wales has been rising for much of the last three years, having fallen to 77,727 in April 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic it had been above 80,000 since December 2006.

The number climbed as high as 88,179 on 2 December 2011 in the wake of the summer 2011 riots, before falling over subsequent months.

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Earlier this week Sir Keir Starmer said more prisons will be built to manage overcrowding once the government gets its “hands on the planning laws”.

Speaking to broadcasters in Berlin the prime minister said the lack of prisons being built is one of the reasons for the current capacity crisis in jails across the UK.

In July the government set out legislation to reduce the amount of time inmates must spend in jail before they are automatically released, lowering it from 50% of their sentence to 40%, in a bid to manage overcrowding.

One of Labour’s key pledges during the general election campaign was to unblock the planning system to allow developers to build on the “grey belt”.

Sir Keir said: “We’ve got to change the planning regulation so we can build the prisons we need, because they’re taking far too long, it’s far too slow, and that’s amongst the reasons we’re in the position we are.

“And, as you’d expect from an ex-chief prosecutor, people do need to go to prison, and they need to know that the law is effective.”

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