Public Figures

Britain’s official statistics

Prison population and capacity

Warren Hill · July 2026

Warren Hill prison is holding 237 people in space certified for 250 — 95% 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.

95%

full

237 people in accommodation certified for 250, July 2026

That is the joint 83rd-fullest of the 120 establishments in the July 2026 bulletin.

It is not over its certified capacity this month.

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. 74 establishments between
  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 Warren Hill

Mar 201890%100% 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 202623725095%
Jun 202624225097%
May 202624425098%
Apr 202624625098%
Mar 202623625094%
Feb 202624225097%
Jan 202623825095%
Dec 202524026790%
Nov 202524126790%
Oct 202524426791%
Sep 202524526792%
Aug 202524426791%

What the bulletin publishes, and what it means

Baseline CNA269
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 CNA250
Baseline CNA less those places not available for immediate use — damaged cells, cells affected by building works.
Operational capacity250
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.
Population237
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.