In 2023, there were 599 people aged between 30 and 39 imprisoned in Northern Ireland, the most of any group during this year. By comparison, there were just 43 people aged between 18 and 20 in this year.

As of 2023, there were approximately 2,527 prisoners in Scotland aged between 25 and 34, the highest among the provided age groups. By contrast, there were just 248 prisoners aged 65 or over.

In 2022/23 there were approximately 7,426 male prisoners in Scotland, compared with 282 female ones. During the provided time period, male prisoner numbers in Scotland peaked during 2019/20, when there were 7,796, while the number of female prisoners was highest in 2011/12, at 469.

Between 2012 and 2020, the number of self-inflicted deaths among white prisoners in public prisons in England and Wales went up from 49 to 57.

Operational database used in prisons for the management of offenders. It contains offenders' personal details, age group, type of offence(s), type of custody (including those remanded on bail and sentenced), sentence length, prisoner movement data (internal and external), case note information, addresses of the prisoner (release, reception and curfew) and involvement in breaches of prison discipline. It also includes full details of the prisoners’ visits history, activities (both paid/unpaid work and offender rehabilitation programmes) and details of the prisoners’ financial records whilst in prison.

The Ministry of Justice Data First prisoner custodial journey dataset provides data on people held in custody in prisons and young offenders institutions (YOIs) in England and Wales, and has been extracted from the management information system Prison National Offender Management Information System (P-NOMIS), used by Her Majesty's Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) within prisons. Data on offenders serving custodial sentences since 2011 is expected to be complete, but sentences begun before this are included. Young Offenders are included if resident at prisons or YOIs that use P-NOMIS, however, this excludes the majority of Secure Schools and Secure Training Centres.

Information on offender characteristics, their main offence, sentence and release is included: for example age, gender, ethnicity, offence category, and key dates, providing information on movements through the system and their release and recall (if applicable).

Each record in the dataset gives information about a single person and custodial journey. As part of Data First, records have been deidentified and deduplicated, using our probabilistic record linkage package, Splink, so that a unique identifier is assigned to all records believed to relate to the same person, allowing for longitudinal analysis and investigation of repeat appearances. This aims to improve on links already made within the prison system. This opens up the potential to better understand the prison population and address questions on, for example, patterns associated with short repeated custodial sentences and what works to reduce reoffending.

The Ministry of Justice Data First linking dataset can be used in combination with this and other Data First datasets to join up administrative records about people from across justice services (courts, prisons and probation) to increase understanding around users' interactions, pathways and outcomes.

This study includes a synthetically-generated version of the Ministry of Justice Data First Prisons dataset. Synthetic versions of all 43 tables in the MoJ Data First data ecosystem have been created. These versions can be used / joined in the same way as the real datasets. As well as underpinning training, synthetic datasets should enable researchers to explore research questions and to design research proposals prior to submitting these for approval. The code created during this exploration and design process should then enable initial results to be obtained as soon as data access is granted.

The Ministry of Justice Data First prisoner custodial journey dataset provides data on people held in custody in prisons and Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) in England and Wales and has been extracted from the management information system Prison National Offender Management Information System (P-NOMIS), used by His Majesty's Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) within prisons.

Data on offenders serving custodial sentences since 2011 is expected to be complete, but sentences begun before this are included. Young Offenders are included if resident at prisons or YOIs that use P-NOMIS, however, this excludes the majority of Secure Schools and Secure Training Centres.

Information is included on offender characteristics, their main offence, sentence and release: for example, age, gender, ethnicity, offence category, and key dates, providing information on movements through the system and their release and recall (if applicable). There is a separate table on safety in custody incidents involving assaults and self-harm and a table on external movements (between prisons, and into and out of prison). This includes information on the date, type and reason for the movement and the locations involved (for example specific prisons).

Each record in the dataset gives information about a single person and custodial journey. As part of Data First, records have been deidentified and deduplicated, using our probabilistic record linkage package, Splink, so that a unique identifier is assigned to all records believed to relate to the same person, allowing for longitudinal analysis and investigation of repeat appearances. This aims to improve on links already made within the prison system. This opens up the potential to better understand the prison population and address questions on, for example, patterns associated with short repeated custodial sentences and what works to reduce reoffending.

The Ministry of Justice Data First linking dataset can be used in combination with this and other Data First datasets to join up administrative records about people from across justice services to increase understanding around users' interactions, pathways and outcomes.

Contains details of deaths of both natural causes and self inflicted under the following headings: details of death, offence and sentence history, demographic information, arrival at this prison. Outside hospital/hospice, Palliative care, health management, healthcare unit, mental healthcare, substance misuse, self-harm or attempted suicide, record keeping, segregation, cells, experience in custody, antecedents of death, significant events, immediate action on discovery, contacting next of kin and additional comments

In July 2025, the prisoner population of England and Wales stood at around 87,966 while the operating capacity of prisons was almost 89,373.

Tool contains the target and action dates of various stages of an investigation: FLO contact, case reviews, draft stages, and final stage. Includes dates of case suspension when relevant.

The dataset has been created from registers of "habitual" criminals recorded on their release from prisons in England and Wales between 1881 and 1925. The information given includes the name of the prisoner, year and place of birth, height, physical appearance, occupation, conviction and sentence details, previous convictions, prison and intended destination on liberation.The Habitual Criminal Registers were created expressly for the purpose of enabling future detection of repeat offenders. As such, they contain valuable information for the project's research exploring long-term recidivism, especially after the Old Bailey Proceedings ceased publication in 1913. Information about previous offending facilitates direct linkage to Old Bailey offenders, and detailed personal information aids more probabilistic linkage methods.

Black people were over twice as likely to be arrested as white people – there were 20.4 arrests for every 1,000 black people, and 9.4 for every 1,000 white people.

The HMIP (His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons) Prisoner Surveys (also formerly known as Detainee Surveys) are part of the Inspectorate's duties to inspect prisons. Surveys of prisoners have been carried out systematically since 2000 at institutions being inspected, to gain important insight into detainees' experiences of offender management whilst in custody.

Prisoners are issued with the survey questionnaire to return to the HMIP team, which processes the data to inform inspections of individual institutions and the HMIP annual reports.

The survey is grouped into topics/themes of questions with response categories, as well as providing space for prisoners to add additional comments (such text comments are not included in these datasets).

The specific objectives of the HMIP Prisoner Survey series are as follows:

• to produce data that are comparable as possible over time and between custodial institutions;
• to provide data for a large and representative sample of adult prisoners in England and Wales. So far, over 20 years' worth of data has been collected. The survey conducted in 2020/21 was subject to HMIP COVID-19 restrictions.

Further information can be found on the HMIP Prisoner Survey webpage.

End User Licence and Special Licence versions

Two versions of the HMIP Prisoner Survey are held at UKDS: an End User Licence (EUL) version (SN 9161) that is subject to registration and standard access conditions, and a more detailed Special Licence (SL) version (SN 9068), which has additional access restrictions. The document 'end_user_licence_group_changes', available with the EUL version, SN 9161, details the differences between the two versions. Users should obtain the EUL version first to see whether it is suitable for their needs before considering making an application for access to the SL version.

Latest edition information

For the third edition (August 2025), data and documentation for 2024/25 were added to the study.

The dataset has been created from registers of prisoners in Newgate Prison charged with indictable offences, most for trial at the Old Bailey. The information given includes the name of the prisoner, offences charged and outcomes, with physical descriptions and biographical details in many cases. In the 19th century, British prisons recorded ever-increasing amounts of physical, biometric and biographical information about prisoners. However, it is very unusual for 18th-century records to contain this type of detail, and these registers are consequently a rare and rich source. (Indeed, they surpass many 19th-century prison records because they are not restricted to convicted prisoners.) Their usefulness is further enhanced by information about the outcomes of cases.

The Ministry of Justice Data First probation dataset provides data on people under the supervision of the probation service in England and Wales from 2014. This is a statutory criminal justice service that supervises high-risk offenders released into the community. The data has been extracted from the management information system national Delius (nDelius), used by His Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) to manage people on probation.

Information is included on service users’ characteristics and offence, and on their pre-sentence reports, sentence requirements, licence conditions and post sentence supervision; for example, age, gender, ethnicity, offence category, key dates relating to sentence and recalls, activities and programmes required as part of rehabilitation (e.g. drug and alcohol treatment, skills training) and limitations set on their activities (e.g. curfew, location monitoring, drugs testing).

Each record in the dataset gives information about a single person and probation journey. As part of Data First, records have been deidentified and deduplicated, using our probabilistic record linkage package, Splink, so that a unique identifier is assigned to all records believed to relate to the same person, allowing for longitudinal analysis and investigation of repeat interactions with probation. This aims to improve on links already made within probation services. This opens up the potential to better understand probation service users and address questions on, for example, what works to reduce reoffending.

The Ministry of Justice Data First linking dataset can be used in combination with this and other Data First datasets to join up administrative records about people from across justice services (courts, prisons and probation) to increase understanding around users' interactions, pathways and outcomes.

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