Civometry

Ministry of Justice · Offender management statistics quarterly: annual prison population tables, 2019 edition (June 2002 to June 2019)

Prison population at month end, 2002 to 2015

May 2015 Final

85,694people

Prison population at month end, 2002 to 2015 was 85,694 people in May 2015, up 0.1% (53) from 85,641 in April 2015.

▲ 0.1% · +53 against April 2015 (previous period)

  1. Ministry of Justice count
  2. May 2015
  3. published 26 July 2019
  4. Table A1.1
  5. row “Males and Females”
  6. column “2015-05-31”
  7. cell value 85694

June 2002 to May 2015

Prison population at month end, 2002 to 2015: June 2002 to May 2015LabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservative025k50k75k200520102015Before: Prison population as recorded by the previous prison IT system. After: Prison population as recorded by the prison IT system introduced in 2010.methodology changeJune 2002: 71,218 people · published 26 July 2019June 2003: 73,657 people · published 26 July 2019June 2004: 74,488 people · published 26 July 2019June 2005: 76,190 people · published 26 July 2019June 2006: 77,982 people · published 26 July 2019June 2007: 79,734 people · published 26 July 2019June 2008: 83,194 people · published 26 July 2019June 2009: 83,454 people · published 26 July 2019June 2010: 85,002 people · published 26 July 2019July 2010: 84,750 people · published 26 July 2019August 2010: 85,173 people · published 26 July 2019September 2010: 85,429 people · published 26 July 2019October 2010: 85,224 people · published 26 July 2019November 2010: 85,473 people · published 26 July 2019December 2010: 83,055 people · published 26 July 2019January 2011: 84,255 people · published 26 July 2019February 2011: 85,177 people · published 26 July 2019March 2011: 85,400 people · published 26 July 2019April 2011: 84,348 people · published 26 July 2019May 2011: 85,289 people · published 26 July 2019June 2011: 85,374 people · published 26 July 2019July 2011: 85,411 people · published 26 July 2019August 2011: 86,770 people · published 26 July 2019September 2011: 87,501 people · published 26 July 2019October 2011: 87,543 people · published 26 July 2019November 2011: 88,167 people · published 26 July 2019December 2011: 86,172 people · published 26 July 2019January 2012: 87,799 people · published 26 July 2019February 2012: 87,733 people · published 26 July 2019March 2012: 87,531 people · published 26 July 2019April 2012: 87,409 people · published 26 July 2019May 2012: 87,068 people · published 26 July 2019June 2012: 86,048 people · published 26 July 2019July 2012: 86,752 people · published 26 July 2019August 2012: 86,708 people · published 26 July 2019September 2012: 86,457 people · published 26 July 2019October 2012: 86,301 people · published 26 July 2019November 2012: 86,047 people · published 26 July 2019December 2012: 83,757 people · published 26 July 2019January 2013: 83,918 people · published 26 July 2019February 2013: 84,451 people · published 26 July 2019March 2013: 83,769 people · published 26 July 2019April 2013: 84,176 people · published 26 July 2019May 2013: 83,897 people · published 26 July 2019June 2013: 83,842 people · published 26 July 2019July 2013: 84,085 people · published 26 July 2019August 2013: 83,770 people · published 26 July 2019September 2013: 84,488 people · published 26 July 2019October 2013: 85,277 people · published 26 July 2019November 2013: 85,153 people · published 26 July 2019December 2013: 84,163 people · published 26 July 2019January 2014: 84,977 people · published 26 July 2019February 2014: 85,469 people · published 26 July 2019March 2014: 85,265 people · published 26 July 2019April 2014: 84,646 people · published 26 July 2019May 2014: 84,845 people · published 26 July 2019June 2014: 85,509 people · published 26 July 2019July 2014: 85,653 people · published 26 July 2019August 2014: 85,302 people · published 26 July 2019September 2014: 85,698 people · published 26 July 2019October 2014: 85,786 people · published 26 July 2019November 2014: 85,837 people · published 26 July 2019December 2014: 84,691 people · published 26 July 2019January 2015: 84,838 people · published 26 July 2019February 2015: 85,311 people · published 26 July 2019March 2015: 85,664 people · published 26 July 2019April 2015: 85,641 people · published 26 July 2019May 2015: 85,694 people · published 26 July 2019
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestDashed line: change in coverage or methodShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

The number of people held in prisons in England and Wales at the end of the month, at 30 June only for 2002 to 2009 and at every month end from June 2010 to May 2015, from Table A1.1 of the Ministry of Justice's 2019 annual prison population tables.

What this doesn’t measure

Months other than June before 2010, the population on a Monday (the modern weekly basis), or people in immigration removal centres or police cells.

Important caveat

Prison population in England and Wales at the end of the month (30 June only for 2002 to 2009), from the Ministry of Justice's annual prison population tables. Month-end snapshots are a different basis from the weekly Monday bulletin used by the modern series and from the annual average. From 2010 the figures are taken from a new prison IT system; the Ministry of Justice published June 2009 on both the old and new systems "to aid comparison" and the earlier-system figure is shown here. Figures are drawn from administrative systems and small unmarked revisions can occur between editions.

When the way this was measured changed

A series can move because the thing being measured changed, or because the way of measuring it changed. Each change below is marked on the chart, and says what the figures meant on either side of it.

June 2010 · methodology change

Before
Prison population as recorded by the previous prison IT system.
After
Prison population as recorded by the prison IT system introduced in 2010.

Ministry of Justice: "Due to the introduction of a new prison IT system the 2010 prison population data is now taken from a different source. The 2009 figures from both the old and new systems have been presented to aid comparison." The earlier-system June 2009 figure is shown.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Publication
Offender management statistics quarterly: annual prison population tables, 2019 edition (June 2002 to June 2019)
Release
Annual prison population: 2019 (June 2002 to June 2019), published 26 July 2019
Source file
population-30June2019-annual.ods
File SHA-256
fbe187056bacd25c129b6ffbb9ae86166d79bf88711e9ce956b4848b25329632
Retrieved
2 September 2026
Sheet
A1_1
Table
Table A1.1
Row
Males and Females
Column
2015-05-31
Cell value
85694
Geography
England and Wales
Unit
people
API
/api/metrics/prison_population_monthly_2002_2015 · /series · /vintages

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Coalition 2010–201583,454June 200985,641April 2015↑ 2.6%
Labour 2005–201074,488June 200483,454June 2009↑ 12.0%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Annual prison population: 2019 (June 2002 to June 2019) · publication page
Last updated
26 July 2019
Next release expected
Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)