Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average officer to prisoner ratio was across all male prisons as of February 2026.

The number of full-time equivalent band 3-5 prison officers in each public sector prison is published quarterly as part of the “HM Prison and Probation Service workforce statistics” publication. The latest data, for staff in post on 31st December 2025, is available in Table 15 of this spreadsheet: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/699d794d07d7bff3604d6be2/hmpps-workforce-statistics-tables-dec-2025_final_file.ods.

The number of prisoners in each prison is published as part of the “Offender management statistics quarterly” publication. The latest data, also for 31st December 2025, is available in Table 1_Q_13: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6978d8c475d4437096552064/prison-population-31-Dec-2025.ods.

The list of each prison, their function and whether they are male only is available at this link: Prisons in England and Wales - GOV.UK.

These publicly available resources can be used to calculate the average prison officer to prisoner ratio for male prisons.