Prisons: Overcrowding

(asked on 5th January 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons in England and Wales are overcrowded.


Answered by
Victoria Atkins Portrait
Victoria Atkins
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This question was answered on 14th January 2022

As at 31 December 2021, 61 prisons operated with a population above their Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA) but not above their operational capacity. The operational capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can accommodate and is determined by the Prison Group Director.

CNA, or uncrowded capacity, is the Prison Service’s own measure of accommodation. CNA represents the good, decent standard of accommodation that the Service aspires to provide all prisoners. Where operational capacity of a prison is higher than the CNA it will be classed as having the potential to be 'crowded', which can mean prisoners share cells.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) publishes monthly individual prison population and capacity information through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-population-statistics

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