Public Figures

Britain’s official statistics

Prison population and capacity

The Verne · August 2026

The Verne prison is holding 644 people in the 640 certified places in use — 101% 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.

101%

full

644 people in accommodation certified for 640, August 2026

That is the joint 56th-fullest of the 120 establishments in the August 2026 bulletin.

It last held fewer people than its certified places in use in June 2026.

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. … 48 establishments between
    59thThe Verne101%
  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 The Verne

Jul 201838%–108% across 98 readings on recordAug 2026

One cell per month from Jul 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 2026644640101%
Jul 2026642640100%
Jun 2026640640100%
May 2026639640100%
Apr 2026643640100%
Mar 2026641640100%
Feb 2026640640100%
Jan 2026644640101%
Dec 2025638640100%
Nov 2025637640100%
Oct 2025642600107%
Sep 2025646600108%

What the bulletin publishes, and what it means

Baseline CNA640
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 CNA640
Baseline CNA less those places not available for immediate use — damaged cells, cells affected by building works.
Operational capacity645
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.
Population644
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.