The MOJ say around 6,500 net prison places were created between 2022 and 2025, once closures are taken into consideration. These include places created in three new prisons.
However, further expansion to existing prisons has been delayed by a major supplier going into administration, according to the Prison Reform Trust.
Pia Sinha of the Prison Reform Trust told BBC Verify: “Successive governments have found it difficult to increase prison capacity because new prisons take years to plan and build, often facing planning hurdles and local opposition.”
The Labour government has pledged to build 14,000 new prison places by 2031.
Analysts argue that without a major change in thinking about the appropriateness of prison as punishment, or a significant long-term increase in prison building, the system in England and Wales will remain close to capacity.
And that means governments will continue to be under pressure to implement early release schemes to avert a capacity crisis.
Additional reporting by Tom Edgington
