What do we know about the prison population in England and Wales?
Nearly nine in 10 prisoners in England and Wales are British.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Here are some of the key statistics about the prison population in England and Wales, including gender, nationality and ethnicity.
The figures have been compiled by the PA news agency using the latest available Ministry of Justice data.
– Gender
The prison population in England and Wales stood at 86,089 as of December 9 2024.
Of this total, 82,218 were adult males (95.5%), 3,500 were adult females (4.1%) and 371 were children aged 10 to 18 in youth custody.
– Nationality
Nearly nine in 10 prisoners in England and Wales are British, according to the latest available data on nationality.
Of the 86,582 prisoners in jail as of September 30 2024 where nationality was recorded, 76,164 (88.0%) were British.
The next largest nationality was Albanian (1,092, or 1.3% of the total), followed by Polish (835, 1.0%), Romanian (727, 0.8%) and Irish (647, 0.7%).
While Albanian was the most common non-British nationality among male inmates (1,088 prisoners), Romanian was the most common among females (38).
A total of 10,418 non-British nationals were being held in prisons in England and Wales at the end of September – where nationality was known – with 11 nationalities accounting for more than half of this total: Albanian, Polish, Romanian, Irish, Jamaican, Pakistani, Lithuanian, Indian, Portuguese, Somalian and Iraqi.
Wandsworth prison in south London held the highest number of inmates of foreign nationality (672, or 45% of its total population), followed by Maidstone in Kent (570, 99%), Huntercombe in Oxfordshire (495, 100%) and Wormwood Scrubs in west London (409, 33%).
Maidstone and Huntercombe are both category C prisons specifically for foreign nationals.
– Ethnicity
Of the 68,919 prisoners in England and Wales at the end of September who were serving a custodial sentence, 73.2% were white, 11.9% were black, 7.9% were Asian, 4.7% were mixed and 1.6% were another ethnic group, with the remaining 0.7% unrecorded or not stated.
The figures are slightly different for the 17,662 prisoners who were being held on remand, with 66.2% white, 12.1% black, 9.4% Asian, 4.8% mixed and 4.9% another ethnic group, with the remaining 2.6% unrecorded or not stated.
A higher proportion of female prisoners serving a custodial sentence were white (82.8%) than male prisoners (72.9%), while the same was true for females on remand (79.2%) compared with males on remand (65.4%).
– Age
Among the 68,919 prisoners in England and Wales at the end of September who were serving a custodial sentence, 22,865 (33.2%) were 30 to 39 – the highest figure among all age groups.
The other groups were, in descending order of size: 15,044 (21.8%) aged 40 to 49; 9,620 (14.0%) 25 to 29; 5,672 (8.2%) 21 to 24; 7,981 (11.6%) 50 to 59; 3,928 (5.7%) 60 to 69; 1,907 (2.8%) 70 and over; 1,737 (2.5%) 18 to 20; and 165 (0.2%) aged 15 to 17.
There is a similar pattern among the 17,662 prisoners being held on remand on that date, with 5,952 (33.7%) aged 30 to 39, followed by 3,445 (19.5%) 40 to 49; 2,930 (16.6%) 25 to 29; 2,093 (11.9%) 21 to 24 and 1,326 (7.5%) 50 to 59.
The proportions for the smallest groups are slightly different, however, with 1,313 (7.4%) aged 18 to 20; 410 (2.3%) 60 to 69; 97 (0.5%) 15 to 17; and 96 (0.5%) 70 and over.
– Offences
There were 68,639 prisoners at the end of September for whom an offence had been recorded.
The most common offence was violence against the person (22,807 prisoners, or 33.2% of the total), followed by sexual offences (14,252, 20.8%), drug offences (10,587, 15.4%); theft offences (6,102, 8.9%) and robbery (5,531, 8.1%).
– Location
Oakwood in Featherstone, Staffordshire, has the largest prison population in England and Wales.
It is a category C prison, which means it focuses on training and resettlement of male prisoners who are considered a low security risk.
It held 2,089 prisoners as of October 25 2024, according to the latest available data for prison locations.
The next largest populations, as of the same date, were at Berwyn prison in Wrexham, North Wales (1,949, category C); Parc in Bridgend, South Wales (1,742, a privately-run category B prison with a mixture of males on remand and high security long-term inmates); and Five Wells in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire (1,680, category C).
Frankland in County Durham is the category A prison with the largest population, with 824 inmates as of October 25.
Category A institutions are high security prisons housing male prisoners who, if they were to escape, are considered to pose the most threat to the public, the police or national security.
The next largest populations for category A prisons are Wakefield in West Yorkshire (696) and Belmarsh in south-east London (665).