Prison numbers are flat since 2015, but recalls have nearly doubled
England and Wales held 85,858 prisoners on 30 June 2026, almost exactly as many as in June 2015, but nearly twice as many were there on recall. Fewer people are serving ordinary sentences, and more are on remand.
Noodle News data desk · reading time ~2 min
97%
Rise in prisoners on recall since June 2015, from 6,176 to 12,145
31%
Rise in the remand population over the same years, from 11,785 to 15,386
0.4%
Fall in the total prison population over the same years
What the data shows
The same number of prisoners, in a different mix
Ministry of Justice figures published on 30 July show that the prison population of England and Wales, 85,858 on 30 June, is about where it was in 2015.1 The next edition is due on 29 October. Recalled prisoners are people released on licence who were sent back to custody. Their number has almost doubled, and remand prisoners, who are held before trial or before sentence, are up by almost a third.
Prisoners serving a sentence who are not on recall are down 13%, from 66,483 to 57,858.1 Recalls and remand have filled the gap.
Exhibit 01
Prison population by type, England and Wales, 30 June each year
Source: Ministry of Justice, Annual prison population 2026, Table 1.A.1 and 1.A.2, male and female, all ages. Recalled prisoners are shown separately from other sentenced prisoners. Years are 2015 to 2026 (15 is June 2015).1
The latest turn
Both have fallen over the past year
Neither has risen in the last year. Recalls peaked at 13,829 in July 2025 and were 10% lower than twelve months earlier in June. Remand peaked at 17,947 in August 2025 and was 13% lower.1 Remand is still well above its low of 8,788 in December 2018.
Exhibit 02
Prisoners on recall and on remand, monthly, June 2015 to June 2026
Source: Ministry of Justice, as Exhibit 1, month-end counts. The vertical axis starts at zero.1
Key finding. The total has barely moved in eleven years. What is inside it has: more people held on recall and on remand, and far fewer on short or public-protection sentences.
Behind the totals
Short sentences are down by two-thirds, and extended ones have grown
Prisoners serving up to six months fell from 4,111 to 1,255. Those held under the old imprisonment for public protection sentence fell from 4,614 to 856. Extended determinate sentences, a sentence with an extended licence period, rose from 1,946 to 9,697.1
Exhibit 03
Prison population by type, June 2015 against June 2026
Source: Ministry of Justice, as Exhibit 1. “Other terms” is all other sentenced prisoners excluding recalls: sentences over six months, life sentences and the rest.1
What we don't know
The tables do not say why people were recalled, for example for a new offence or for breaking licence conditions. They also do not show how long remand prisoners waited. The file starts in June 2015, so it cannot show whether the recall count was already unusual then. We have not set the figures against the capacity of the estate.
Caveat
Caveat. The strongest objection is that the headline compares two end points. Recalls rose from 6,176 to 12,145 over eleven years but have fallen for the last year, and the total population was higher in between, reaching 88,439 in August 2024. The “flat” claim rests on June 2015 and June 2026 alone, so the line chart in Exhibit 2 and the year-by-year columns in Exhibit 1 matter more than the two end points. Counts are snapshots on one day, not flows over a year,. Nothing here shows what caused the changes.
Method. Counts are the Ministry of Justice's prison population on the last day of each month, male and female, all ages, England and Wales, from the annual prison population tables (Tables 1.A.1 and 1.A.2) for 2026. Remand is untried plus convicted unsentenced. “Sentenced, not on recall” is the sentenced total minus recalls. “Other terms” further excludes sentences of up to six months, extended determinate sentences and imprisonment for public protection. Percentage changes were computed in code from the published counts and checked against the published June 2026 values (85,858 total, 15,386 remand, 70,003 sentenced, 12,145 recalls, and year-on-year changes of −2%, −13% and −10% for the total, remand and recalls). No source independent of the Ministry of Justice publishes this breakdown, so all figures rest on one release.
Production. Researched, written and checked by an AI system working to the Noodle News standards; edited and published by the Noodle News editor.
Corrections. v1.1 (20 Oct 2026): on narrow phone screens every year under Exhibit 1 was shortened to “’…”; the years now read 15 to 26 (2015 to 2026). No figures changed.
Figures to 16 Oct 2026.Noodle News · v1.1 · prison-population-recalls-remand.