Public Figures

Britain’s official statistics

Prison population and capacity

Featherstone · July 2026

Featherstone prison is holding 622 people in space certified for 599 — 104% full.

Read from the Ministry of Justice’s July 2026 bulletin, in the vintage we archived on 11 August 2026. The count was taken on 27 July 2026.

104%

full

622 people in accommodation certified for 599, July 2026

That is the 52nd-fullest of the 120 establishments in the July 2026 bulletin.

It last had more certified space than people in April 2026.

The fullest establishments in July 2026

  1. 1stLeeds168%
  2. 2ndDurham164%
  3. 3rdWandsworth161%
  4. 4thExeter158%
  5. 5thPreston153%
  6. 6thSwansea153%
  7. 7thDoncaster150%
  8. 8thAltcourse144%
  9. 9thBristol140%
  10. 10thForest Bank139%
  11. … 41 establishments between
    52ndFeatherstone104%
  12. out of 120 establishments with accommodation in use

Population divided by in-use certified normal accommodation, for every establishment in the same bulletin. Establishments with no accommodation in use have no percentage and are left out of the ranking rather than placed at either end of it.

Every month we hold for Featherstone

Mar 201891%–109% across 101 readings on recordJul 2026

One cell per month from Mar 2018 to Jul 2026, shaded from this establishment’s own emptiest month to its fullest. The record starts in March 2018 because that is the first bulletin published as a spreadsheet; earlier months exist only as word-processor files we will not guess at.

The last twelve months

MonthPopulationIn-use CNAFull
Jul 2026622599104%
Jun 2026613599102%
May 2026620599104%
Apr 2026599599100%
Mar 202659659999%
Feb 202659359999%
Jan 202659459999%
Dec 2025598599100%
Nov 2025601599100%
Oct 202561067191%
Sep 202564767196%
Aug 2025672671100%

What the bulletin publishes, and what it means

Baseline CNA671
The sum total of all certified accommodation in an establishment, except normally cells in punishment or segregation units and healthcare cells not used for long-stay patients.
In-use CNA599
Baseline CNA less those places not available for immediate use — damaged cells, cells affected by building works.
Operational capacity642
The total number of prisoners an establishment can hold without serious risk to good order, security and the proper running of the planned regime. Determined by Prison Group Directors on the basis of operational judgement and experience.
Population622
The number of people held. The publisher notes that the prison unlock figure may be lower, as the population includes prisoners on authorised absence.

The publisher’s own definitions, quoted from the bulletin. We divide the population by in-use CNA rather than by operational capacity: operational capacity is what an establishment can be pushed to hold, in-use CNA is what it was certified to hold decently, and dividing by the larger of the two flatters every prison in the estate.