Public Figures

Britain’s official statistics

Prison population and capacity

Lancaster Farms · August 2026

Lancaster Farms prison is holding 559 people in the 498 certified places in use — 112% full.

Read from the Ministry of Justice’s August 2026 bulletin, in the vintage we archived on 11 October 2026. The count was taken on 24 August 2026.

112%

full

559 people in accommodation certified for 498, August 2026

That is the joint 36th-fullest of the 120 establishments in the August 2026 bulletin.

It last held fewer people than its certified places in use in June 2021.

The fullest establishments in August 2026

  1. 1stLeeds167%
  2. 2ndDurham166%
  3. 3rdWandsworth164%
  4. 4thPreston159%
  5. 5thSwansea156%
  6. 6thExeter156%
  7. 7thDoncaster152%
  8. 8thAltcourse143%
  9. 9thCardiff140%
  10. 10thHull140%
  11. … 26 establishments between
    37thLancaster Farms112%
  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 Lancaster Farms

Mar 201894%–116% across 102 readings on recordAug 2026

One cell per month from Mar 2018 to Aug 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
Aug 2026559498112%
Jul 2026569498114%
Jun 2026556498112%
May 2026579498116%
Apr 2026562498113%
Mar 2026571498115%
Feb 2026547498110%
Jan 2026540498108%
Dec 2025537498108%
Nov 2025534495108%
Oct 2025546495110%
Sep 2025542495109%

What the bulletin publishes, and what it means

Baseline CNA498
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 CNA498
Baseline CNA less those places not available for immediate use — damaged cells, cells affected by building works.
Operational capacity584
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.
Population559
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.