Public Figures

Britain’s official statistics

Prison population and capacity

Stafford · July 2026

Stafford prison is holding 756 people in space certified for 753 — 100% 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.

100%

full

756 people in accommodation certified for 753, July 2026

That is the joint 57th-fullest of the 120 establishments in the July 2026 bulletin.

It last had more certified space than people in June 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. … 47 establishments between
    58thStafford100%
  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 Stafford

Mar 201884%–101% 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 2026756753100%
Jun 202674675399%
May 2026753753100%
Apr 2026751753100%
Mar 2026754753100%
Feb 202675776199%
Jan 202675176199%
Dec 202575776199%
Nov 202575076199%
Oct 2025758761100%
Sep 2025758761100%
Aug 2025760761100%

What the bulletin publishes, and what it means

Baseline CNA753
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 CNA753
Baseline CNA less those places not available for immediate use — damaged cells, cells affected by building works.
Operational capacity761
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.
Population756
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.