Weekly Prison Watch

The prison population has fallen at a rate of 3.6% over the past 12 months. There are 3,094 fewer people in prison than a year ago.

The child custody population for March 2013 was 1,291. This compares to 1,803 the year before. There were 117 children held in secure children's home and secure training centres in March 2013, compared to 163 the year prior.

The current CNA level is 78,347 meaning that 5,682 men and women are being held above this level. CNA (Certified Normal Accommodation) is the prison service’s own measure of how many prisoners can be held in decent and safe accommodation.

5 most overcrowded prisons

The most recent set of quarterly statistics, which cover the period to 31 March 2013, show that:

• 10,768 men, women and children are held on remand in prison
• 7,004 people are serving short sentences (below 12 months)
• 5,809 people are held on indeterminate IPP sentences, of whom 3,570 have passed their tariff

And that between October and December 2012:

• 26,278 people were sent to prison in total, of whom:
• 11,794 people were sent to prison to serve a short sentence (below 12 months)

Week by week prison population breakdown

Click here for a week by week breakdown from 2004 onwards.

Deaths in custody 2013

As of 24 April 2013 there have been 54 deaths in custody:

• 28 people have died of natural causes
• 17 deaths have been classified as self-inflicted
• 1 death has been classified as apparent homicide
• 8 deaths are yet to be classified