What it means: everyone held in prison on the last day of the quarter, including people on remand awaiting trial or sentence. Prisons have been close to full in recent years, which led to early releases from September 2024; that is the dip in the chart. Shown for context, with no rating, because no numeric target applies.

Source: Ministry of Justice, offender management statistics, prison population data tool, quarter ends from September 2015.