Explore the facts about prisons with our new interactive guide
Today we launch the first interactive version of Prison: the facts, our online briefing of prisons in England and Wales and the people in them.
Designed for everyone from members of the public and journalists, to students, academics, policymakers and government officials, the resource offers a clear, trusted starting point for understanding our prisons and who they hold.
Built primarily from official government sources, Prison: the facts provides an accessible overview of the prison system, highlighting long-term trends and recent developments. Interactive charts allow users to explore trends over time, compare figures, and examine individual data points by hovering over them.
It replaces our shorter publication Prison: the facts, offering a more dynamic and interactive way to explore the data, and acts as a gateway to more detailed analysis in our flagship Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile.
Try out the chart below by rolling your cursor or finger over the line to see the growth in the remand prison population.
Remand on the rise
The number of people in prison on remand is now at its highest level in at least 50 years
Source: Ministry of Justice (2025). Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2025. And previous editions
We are grateful to the many people who have contributed to this project, particularly the Bromley Trust for their support, as well as those who took the time to provide early feedback during the development.
We would welcome feedback as we continue to develop the resource. Your comments will help us improve its clarity, usefulness and accessibility. If you would like to share your thoughts, please complete this short feedback form.
