Coronavirus (COVID-19): Justice Analytical Services data report- March 2022

Prison population

While the overall prison population is lower than pre-pandemic levels, the number of people held on remand remains at a historic high. The changing levels across groups that are required by law to be housed separately Ð like those on remand Ð pose increasing difficulties in the management of the prison population.

In March 2022 (up until the morning of Friday 1 April 2022):

• the population decreased by 40 to 7,488
• 2,190 were on remand: 1,896 (25%) untried and 294 (4%) awaiting sentence
• 66% of arrivals were untried (570 of 858), and 17% awaiting sentence (144)

The remand population grew through October and November and, after dropping somewhat in December, it continued to grow through January. The remand population exceeded its previous high point on 1 February when it was 2,292 and has fallen slightly since.

The specific needs of remand prisoners means this changing population profile poses additional challenges to staff and estate.

Remand Arrival Offences

There were 678 un-sentenced arrivals to prison with known offence types in March, awaiting trial or sentence for the following alleged offences.

Note: Double-counting may occur where an individual arrives, is absent from prison for one or more nights in the month, and then returns before the end of the period. Where an individual has multiple alleged offence types in a single stint, the offence towards the top of the list in the chart is used as the index offence.

Further Information:

Latest published Annual Prison Population Statistics