Prisons & COVID: England & Wales

This page contains information on the penal system of England and Wales.

World Prison Briefing: United Kingdom: England and Wales

Prisons in England and Wales: Find information on prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales, including how to arrange visits and how to stay in touch with prisoners.

Prison Populations:

Prison population figures: 2020: Latest prison population figures for 2020.
Last updated 18 December 2020 — see all updates From: Ministry of Justice, HM Prison Service, and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service

UK Prison Population Statistics: “The average annual prison population quadrupled between 1900 and 2019, going from just over 17,400 to around 82,900. The prison population was relatively stable between 1915 and 1945. From 1940 the prison population grew steadily, although there was a small period in the early 1990s when it decreased for four consecutive years before rising steeply again in the subsequent decade. Since 2010, the average prison population has remained relatively stable.
The UK general population also grew during this time. To put the numbers in context, in 1900 there were 86 prisoners per 100,000 people in the general population and in 2018 there were 173 per 100,000. The lowest rate recorded was at the start of the 1940s when there were around 33 prisoners per 100,000 people.”

COVID-19 and the Prison Population:

Dartmoor Prison confirms Covid-19 outbreak has contributed to cases spike: Dartmoor Prison has confirmed a number of positive Covid-19 cases – helping to explain a recent spike in official figures. The coronavirus cluster map shows 42 cases in the Chagford, Princetown & Dartmoor area.

COVID Cells Coronavirus outbreaks in Kent prisons may be ‘catalyst’ for London cases rising to Tier 3 levels: “CORONAVIRUS outbreaks in Kent prisons may be a “catalyst” for London Covid cases rising to Tier 3 levels, experts have said.Of the five areas with the highest coronavirus rates in England, four of them are near the Kent borough of Swale and the Isle of Sheppey – where there are three prisons.“

Covid has killed 16 prison staff and 2,000 are off sick with the virus: “COVID-19 has killed 16 members of prison staff since the beginning of the pandemic, shocking new figures reveal. A further 2,000 prison workers are off sick with the virus, leaving jails housing dangerous criminals understaffed, it is claimed.”

Exploring Religion in England and Wales: February 2020: Exploring the data available on people of different religious identities, to assess its quality and develop plans to build on its strengths and address its limitations.

The History of Judicial Independence in England and Wales: We take judicial independence so much for granted in this country that it is useful to consider that it developed in its present form only 300 years ago, and that it is only in very recent years that we have possessed a judiciary as strong as we have today. In my contacts with the judiciary of the emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe I have often reverted to the lessons I endeavoured to set out in this essay, particularly in the closing sections in which I described some of the developments since the Act of Settlement changed the landscape for good.