Prisons: Costs
Commons · Question 119804 · Tabled 10 Mar 2026 · Ministry of Justice · Official record
Answered 17 Mar 2026
Question
Asked by James McMurdock
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of trends in the cost of imprisonment in England and Wales.
Answer
Answered by Jake Richards, 17 Mar 2026
The cost of running prisons has generally increased over the past decade, with particularly sharp changes during the Covid-19 period. Analysis of the published Prison Unit Costs series shows that average running costs per place have risen by around 5% per...