What's going wrong with the UK's prison system?

Prisons across the United Kingdom are struggling with overcrowding, reoffending rates, and deteriorating conditions for inmates. The system has been working at capacity for decades with previous reforms only temporarily reducing pressure, rather than the bigger structural changes that charities and think-tanks say are urgently needed.¹

Official government figures from 27 July 2026 show that 86,267 prisoners are currently being held in prisons in England and Wales, against an operational capacity of 88,895.² The annual average prison population is rapidly increasing — quadrupling since 1900, when the adult population of England and Wales has more than doubled.³ The percentage of the population in prison is therefore increasing, even though crime rates have been falling for decades in Britain.⁴

Andy Burnham's new government have declared their intent to address the prisons crisis, with policies like early release schemes making national headlines in the last few weeks. Previous governments have attempted to address the issue, with former Prime Minister Starmer also considering early release. The media attention around high profile cases, such as the murderers of PC Harper potentially being eligible for early release,⁵ and emotional stories from victims make this issue even more complex to find a solution for.

The origins of the problem

Governments have been struggling to deal with the prison population problem for decades as longer sentences are increasing the number of people in the system.⁶ Prisons are a devolved issue in the UK, meaning that Scotland and Northern Ireland have responsibility for their own services, and England and Wales are both managed by Westminster. Funding is allocated by the central government, with some private companies contracted by the government to reduce demand. Although the numbers of the prison population housed in private prisons are relatively low (around 20% of the total prison population),⁷ the role of the private sector in prison provision is controversial. Outsourcing these essential services when the public sector becomes overwhelmed fails to address the root of the problem — a multifaceted capacity crisis in our prisons that are rapidly becoming unfit for purpose.

Austerity, an economic policy of reduced public spending brought in by the Conservatives in 2010, has had a detrimental effect on the UK's prison system. The Institute for Government reports that spending fell 16% in real terms between 2009 and 2019,⁸ with the system losing experienced staff as a result of worsening working conditions. The prison system was already considered to be "in a state of crisis"⁹ by the time the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020. During lockdown prisoners were essentially in solitary confinement — with non-essential visits, activities outside of cells and the prison, and education programmes suspended.⁹ Public Health England recommended single-cell accommodation to reduce transmission, but this did not happen due to overcrowding and the very slow rollout of an early-release scheme.⁹ Prisoners were already considered a vulnerable population due to their restricted access to healthcare services, higher rates of mental health problems, and poorer physical health compared to the general population.¹⁰

The prison system has been dealing with steadily increasing pressure from outside and within for as long as its population has been rising. Longer sentences for offenders combined with budget cuts, a mental health crisis, and the pandemic have pushed the system to breaking point.

Prisons today

All this leaves the prison system today in a fragile state. The prison population is rising, due to a combination of longer sentences, delays in trials and sentencing, and more people being recalled to prison. The Institute for Government think tank attributes today's crisis to a sudden increase in the latter two groups, both of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.¹

Delays in the crown courts as of the autumn of 2025 reached almost 80,000 outstanding cases.¹¹ Again, austerity meant that the Ministry of Justice imposed budget cuts that closed dozens of courts across England and Wales.¹¹ Deteriorating building conditions and increasing maintenance costs have also delayed trials, as well as greater numbers of cases and more serious offences being sent to the Crown Court for slower and more complicated trials.¹¹

In the prisons themselves, living conditions for inmates have been strongly criticised by various human rights organisations. A 2025 report by the Justice Committee found that overcrowding, staff shortages, and deteriorating infrastructure "risk undermining the very purpose of imprisonment, to reduce reoffending."¹² The buildings themselves are no longer fit for purpose, with issues like crumbling infrastructure, toilets and sanitation facilities unusable, and pest infestations.¹³ Preexisting infrastructure is in urgent need of repair before more cells and facilities can be built.

As a result of these living conditions, violence amongst inmates and poor mental and physical health of prisoners is high. Gang violence is common and difficult to control with understaffing,¹² cultivating a culture of fear amongst prisoners. Overcrowding and increasingly limited education and welfare provision increases the problem tenfold, with rates of self-harm and drug abuse rapidly increasing behind bars.⁷

Support for prisoners once they are released has also suffered from budget cuts and increased workload. Rehabilitation is difficult without education programmes and supported pathways into work. The probation service was brought under full public control in 2021, but performance has deteriorated ever since, alongside increasing reoffending rates.¹⁴ Unmanageable workload, fewer staff, and a toxic work culture have all contributed to the collapse of the probation service,¹⁴ posing a serious risk to public safety as a result.

The conditions in our prisons are increasing reoffending rates at the same time as support for former prisoners transitioning back into society is declining. This makes it impossible to ease pressure on prison capacity, unless a holistic overhaul of the entire system is properly funded and prioritised to reduce trauma for prisoners, their families, and the victims of their crimes. The UK's approach to punishment has undermined its prisons, resulting in a system that is self-destructing at the same time as greater demands are being placed on it.

Burnham's solutions

A monumental task now faces Burnham and the Secretary of State for Justice Alex Norris MP. The Sentencing Act 2026 includes a new sentence progression model for those on Standard Determinate Sentences: one-third under intensive community supervision, one-third in custody, and one-third on licence.¹⁵

Heightened media attention regarding early release programmes has polarised public opinion on prison reform. Former Prime Minister Starmer's government began approving a wave of early releases, which Burnham has continued to pursue under his premiership. After public backlash, Burnham has barred rape, serious child sex and grooming offences from sentencing changes.¹⁶ There has also been criticism of the potential release of high-profile prisoners under the early-release scheme. Bowers and Cole, who killed PC Harper in 2019, would become eligible for release after serving half rather than two-thirds of their sentences.¹⁷

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"Not at the expense of victims."

Calvin Buckley, whose partner Frankie Jules-Hough and unborn child died when hit by driver Adil Iqbal in 2023, has called for the government to address issues in the justice system but not at the expense of victims.¹⁸ Iqbal could be released early under the scheme, after serving half of his 15-year sentence.

Decisions like these mark a defining moment of Burnham's policymaking — the outrage and anger of the public psyche must be balanced against the demands of his government to address the problems in the prison system.

Footnotes

1. Institute for Government, The crisis in prisons (opens in a new tab), 3rd July 2024. ²

2. Ministry of Justice, Prison population: monthly prison figures 2026 (opens in a new tab), 9th February 2026.

3. House of Commons Library, Prison population statistics (opens in a new tab), 6th February 2026.

4. BBC Sounds, The Great Crime Mystery (opens in a new tab), 17th August 2026.

5. BBC News, One million sign petition to keep PC Harper's killers in jail (opens in a new tab), 14th August 2026.

6. BBC News, What's behind having to release some prisoners early? (opens in a new tab), 4th August 2026.

7. Prison Reform Trust, The state of our prisons (opens in a new tab), undated. ²

8. Institute of Employment Rights, Years of austerity creating "chaos" in prisons (opens in a new tab), 30th May 2019.

9. House of Commons Justice Committee, How has coronavirus impacted the justice system? (opens in a new tab), 5th August 2020. ^{2 3}

10. Nuffield Trust, Covid-19: how is it impacting on prisoners' health? (opens in a new tab), 22nd June 2020.

11. Brunel University of London, How did the courts backlog get so bad? (opens in a new tab), 19th March 2026. ^{2 3}

12. UK Parliament Justice Committee, 'Dire' prison conditions putting rehabilitation and reoffending reduction 'at risk', Justice Committee warns (opens in a new tab), 14th November 2025. ²

13. The Guardian, Grim reality of prison conditions laid bare in damning report (opens in a new tab), 10th June 2026.

14. UK Parliament Public Accounts Committee, Probation services pushed to the brink of collapse in England and Wales risk endangering public (opens in a new tab), 4th February 2026. ²

15. The Howard League, What is changing under the Sentencing Act 2026? And when? (opens in a new tab), 8th April 2026.

16. Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing StreetMinistry of Justice, Rape, serious child sex and grooming offences barred from sentencing changes (opens in a new tab), 4th August 2026.

17. BBC News, Killed a month after his wedding – why PC Andrew Harper's story touched so many (opens in a new tab), 9th August 2026.

18. BBC News, Prison early release scheme comes 'at expense of victims', grieving partner says despite policy changes (opens in a new tab), 4th August 2026.