Public Figures

Britain’s official statistics

Prison population and capacity

Huntercombe · July 2026

Huntercombe prison is holding 495 people in space certified for 409 — 121% 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.

121%

full

495 people in accommodation certified for 409, July 2026

That is the 25th-fullest of the 120 establishments in the July 2026 bulletin.

It has been over its certified capacity in every month we hold, back to March 2018.

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. … 14 establishments between
    25thHuntercombe121%
  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 Huntercombe

Mar 2018101%–133% 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 2026495409121%
Jun 2026491409120%
May 2026496409121%
Apr 2026489409120%
Mar 2026479409117%
Feb 2026478409117%
Jan 2026482409118%
Dec 2025481409118%
Nov 2025448409110%
Oct 2025490409120%
Sep 2025487409119%
Aug 2025510409125%

What the bulletin publishes, and what it means

Baseline CNA409
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 CNA409
Baseline CNA less those places not available for immediate use — damaged cells, cells affected by building works.
Operational capacity520
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.
Population495
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.