Almost a year from offence to courtroom.
Almost a year from offence to courtroom. Prisons 96% full. Over 60,000 prisoners let out early because they ran out of space. Justice, delayed and rationed, by the Ministry of Justice's own count.
8 figures, each with its official source.
A marginal fall (−37) from the record peak, still up 5% on a year earlier and well over double pre-COVID. First sign of stabilisation: disposals hit a post-COVID peak, just exceeding new cases: stabilised at record levels is not the same as falling.
A series peak: even as the total stabilised, the number of long-waiting cases kept rising: victims and defendants in the most serious cases wait longest.
Up 20 days (6%) on Q1 2025. Magistrates' charge-to-completion also rose 33% year-on-year to 52 days.
A peak since the comparable series began in 2019 (+11% on the year). About half is low-level Single Justice Procedure cases: but the more serious non-SJP caseload also hit a post-COVID peak (184,565).
Headroom is the gap between the population and useable operational capacity, and it moves every week. Honest improvement: a year earlier the population was higher (87,334) with headroom of only 2,239, the easing follows emergency early releases and sentencing reforms. The adult male estate remains the tightest part.
Total releases since the scheme began (Sep 2024) exceed 60,000. SDS40: release at the 40% point of sentence: was introduced as an emergency measure to stop prisons running out of space. Operational transparency data, not accredited statistics; excludes most post-recall releases.
Range 98,000–103,600. Up to £7bn committed for 14,000 places by 2031 (~2,900 delivered, ~5,000 under construction). The projection excludes the Sentencing Bill 2025; the actual mid-2026 population (85,761) is running below the baseline after early-release reforms.
HMPPS estimates £2.8bn over five years would be needed to bring the estate to 'fair' condition, more than double current maintenance spending. A quarter of prison places (23,000) do not meet fire-safety standards. Latest NAO-verified figure as of July 2026.