Sentencing and the use of custody

Sentencing: An overview

In this section we examine the use of imprisonment in England and Wales, looking at how it has changed over time; how we compare with other countries; and whether there is a relationship between the number of people in prison and levels of crime.

If you would like to find out more about the different types of prison sentences, then take a look at the Prison sentences explained section.

How many people do we imprison in England & Wales?

There are around 87,000 people in prison. The prison population has nearly doubled in the last 30 years—and it is predicted to rise further still

Source: Ministry of Justice (2025). Offender management statistics: Prison population 2025.
Ministry of Justice (2025). Prison population projections: 2025 to 2030.

We overuse imprisonment for non-violent offences

Almost 47,000 people were sent to prison to serve a sentence in the year to June 2025

Source: Ministry of Justice (2025). Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2025.

We know that there are more effective alternatives than short prison sentences

Short prison sentences are less effective than community sentences at reducing reoffending.¹

Community sentences are particularly effective for people with many previous offences, people aged under 21 or over 50, and people with mental health problems.² Yet, their use has more than halved in only a decade.³

Suspended sentences, where a person serves their sentence in the community with the threat that they will be sent to prison if they fail to comply with their conditions or commit a further offence, account for only 4% of all sentences—and have declined over the previous decade.⁴

Community sentences are more effective in reducing reoffending

A Ministry of Justice study matched people by personal and offence characteristics to compare the effectiveness of different sentence types

Source: Ministry of Justice (2013). 2013 Compendium of re-offending statistics and analysis.

How do we compare with other countries?

We are out of step with the rest of our nearest European neighbours, choosing to lock up a larger proportion of our population in response to crime.⁵

We imprison far more of our population than our nearest neighbours

Scotland and England & Wales have the highest imprisonment rates in Western Europe

Source: Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (2025). World Prison Brief.

If we imprison more people won't crime fall?

There is no link between the prison population and levels of crime according to the National Audit Office. International comparisons show there is no consistent link between the two

Source: Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research (2023). World Prison Brief. Birkbeck, University of London.
Eurostat (2015). Crimes recorded by the police (1950-2000).
Clarke, S. (2013). Trends in crime and criminal justice, 2010. Eurostat.
Home Office (2023). Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables: Outcomes open data ending March 2021.
Office for National Statistics (2022). UK population estimates, 1838 to 2020.
Statistics Finland (2023). 13ex -- Offences recorded and their solving by offence category according to the municipality of offence and year of reporting, 1980-2022.
Statistics Finland (2023). Population and society.
Statistics Canada (2018). Canada's crime rate: Two decades of decline.
Statistics Canada (2023). Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, Canada, provinces, territories, Census Metropolitan areas and Canadian Forces Military Police.

Prison sentences are getting longer—but many believe the opposite has happened

Around two-thirds of people surveyed believe that sentencing is not harsh enough.⁶

The average prison sentence is much longer now than it was 25 years ago. Yet over half (56%) of people surveyed believed sentences were shorter now—rising to three-quarters (75%) if those who said they didn’t know are excluded.⁷

We choose to send people to prison for a long time — and it's growing

More than three times as many people were sentenced to 10 years or more in 2024 than in 2010

Source: Ministry of Justice (2025) Criminal justice statistics quarterly: Update to December 2024.

For more serious, indictable offences, the average prison sentence is now 69.9 months—more than two and a half years longer than in 2010

Source: Ministry of Justice (2025) Criminal justice statistics quarterly: Update to December 2024.

Life and indeterminate sentences

Many people in prison don’t know when, or if, they might be released. 10,884 people are currently in prison serving an indeterminate sentence—12% of the sentenced prison population, up from 9% in 1993.⁸

The growth of indeterminate sentences

The number of people in prison serving an indeterminate sentence has fallen in recent years — but growing numbers are being recalled back after their release

Source: Ministry of Justice (2025). Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2025.

Imprisonment for public protection (IPP)

The Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence was introduced in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, as a disposal for “dangerous” offenders.⁹ It sentenced people to a fixed period in prison (called a tariff) proportionate to their crime, followed by indefinite detention until the Parole Board deemed them safe for release. They then remain indefinitely on licence with a first licence review by the Parole Board after 10 years, and the possibility of indefinite recall to prison if they breach their conditions.

The IPP sentence was abolished in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving many people still serving the sentence.

In 2022, 10 years after abolition, the House of Commons Justice Committee concluded that the IPP sentence is “irredeemably flawed” and called for a resentencing exercise to be completed for the remaining people serving IPP.¹⁰

The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 introduced the first significant reform to the IPP since its abolition. The waiting period for licence reviews was cut from 10 years after release to three, and a new route was established to end the licence without Parole Board involvement.¹¹

The Sentencing Act 2026, reduced the qualifying period to two year and makes provision for people to apply for further licence reviews after the expiry of the qualifying period, if unsuccessful at their first one.¹² These should further increase the number of people eligible for licence termination.

Find out more about our work on the IPP sentence.

There are still 946 people in prison serving an IPP sentence who have never been released. Nearly all (99%) are still in prison despite having already served their tariff — the minimum period they must spend in custody and considered necessary to serve as punishment for the offence.¹³

Almost three-quarters of unreleased IPP prisoners (73%) have spent an additional 10 years or more in prison on top of their original tariff. A quarter (25%) have served an additional 15 years or more.¹⁴

Nearly 1,000 people serving the IPP sentence remain in prison who have never been released

On average, people serving the IPP sentence have spent 11 years in addition to their original period of punishment — with many serving even longer

Source: Ministry of Justice (2024). Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2024.
House of Lords written question HL3985, 13 January 2025.

1,476 people are serving an IPP sentence in prison on recall, having previously been released — accounting for more than three in five the imprisoned IPP population (61%).¹⁵

But there are promising signs of change. In 2024 the number of recalls fell by 6%¹⁶ and releases rose by 22%¹⁷ — driven by an increase in re-releases following a recall.¹⁸

Life sentences

People serving a life sentence must serve a minimum term in prison, set by the courts, before they can be considered for release by the Parole Board. They are subject to monitoring and restrictions on release, and serve their sentence for the rest of their lives. They can be returned to custody if they break these terms.

Life sentences are the most severe sanction since the abolition of the death penalty for murder in 1967. They are mandatory for murder but can also be imposed for other serious offences at the court’s discretion. Additionally, a life sentence may be imposed automatically for a second serious offence, even if it wouldn’t typically meet the threshold for a life sentence on its own.

Nearly four in five unreleased life-sentenced prisoners (79%) are serving mandatory life sentences for murder, while 21% — or 1,556 individuals — are serving discretionary or automatic life sentences.¹⁹

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 significantly increased the minimum terms for life sentences for murder, with the average rising from 12.5 years in 2003 to 22 years by 2023.²⁰ Further legislation in 2010 and 2022 continued this trend, including higher minimum terms for children.²¹ This has had a knock-on effect in sentence lengths for other offences.²²

7,547 people in prison are serving a life sentence and have never been released. Almost one in seven (13%) have a minimum term of 10 years or less, almost half (47%) have a minimum term of over 10 years and up to 20 years, and two in five (40%) over 20 years.²³

An additional 915 people are currently in prison having been recalled after their release.²⁴

England and Wales hold almost half of all life sentenced prisoners (43%) across the 53 jurisdictions of the Council of Europe, excluding Türkiye. An outlier, Türkiye holds 12,016 life sentenced prisoners, with England and Wales holding 7,202. The other 51 European jurisdictions hold 9,557 lifers between them.²⁵

Life behind bars

The number of people in prison serving a life sentence has almost trebled in the last 30 years

Source: Ministry of Justice (2025). Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2025.

Over a fifth (21%) of people currently in prison on a life sentence have already served their minimum term.²⁶ In 2022, this group had spent an additional nine years and three months in prison on average.²⁷

People serving mandatory life sentences are spending more of their sentence in prison. On average they spend 19 years in custody, up from 14 years in 2002.²⁸

In June 2025 there were 74 people serving a Whole Life Order — they are unlikely to ever be released.²⁹

The vast majority of life-sentenced prisoners are successfully reintegrated into the community upon release. 1% of those sentenced to a mandatory life sentence and 10% sentenced to another life sentence were reconvicted of any criminal offence within a year of release, compared with 44% of the overall prison population.³⁰

People on remand

For many people, their first experience of prison is on remand. This might be ahead of their trial, or whilst they are awaiting sentencing having been found guilty. People remanded in prison receive no financial help from the prison service at the point of release. Those acquitted receive no compensation.³¹ However, in 2024, the government extended its post-release temporary accommodation scheme to people held on remand and then released or acquitted.³²

Need advice?

If you are an unconvicted, unsentenced or civil prisoner there are a few ways in which you may be treated differently. Find out more in our accompanying advice guide.

People on remand account for one in five of the prison population (20%) — almost 18,000 people. The majority are awaiting trial (66%), whilst the rest are awaiting sentencing.³³

The remand population is currently at its highest level in at least 50 years.³⁴ In 2023 the House of Commons Justice Committee raised serious concerns about the number of people being remanded in custody, and being held on remand for longer because of court capacity constraints.³⁵

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

People remanded to custody to await trial are innocent until proven guilty. There were 40,356 receptions into prison before trial in the year to June 2025³⁶ — a 7% increase on the previous year.³⁷

More than two in five people (41%) entering prison on remand awaiting trial were accused of non-violent offences — including 12% accused of drug offences and 9% accused of theft offences.³⁸

People may also be remanded after they have been found guilty, but are yet to be sentenced. 25,621 people were remanded into prison awaiting sentence in the year to June 2025³⁹ — 5% more than the previous year.⁴⁰

In 2024, nearly one in 10 people remanded into custody by magistrates’ courts (9%) were subsequently acquitted. A further 11% received a non-custodial sentence.⁴¹

In the Crown Court, 14% and 16% respectively were acquitted and given a non-custodial sentence.⁴²

More than a third (34%) of self-inflicted deaths in 2024 were by people held on remand,⁴³ as well as more than a fifth (22%) of self-harm incidents.⁴⁴

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