HMP Wandsworth is the UK’s most overcrowded prison, according to new statistics put out by the Ministry of Justice.
At the same time, three men died at the prison within just eight days last month, and a government renovation programme is slowly updating the sprawling Victorian building one wing at a time.
The March 2026 figures show 1,444 inmates held against a usable certified capacity of 894. That is 61.5% more people than the prison is judged able to decently hold. No other prison in England exceeds that ratio, though Leeds comes within a fraction of a percentage point.
Nationally, the chief inspector’s annual report described the effect of overcrowding in plain terms: many prisoners spent most of the day in cramped, shared cells, where broken furniture and vermin infestations are common. The overcrowding itself, the report found, drives demand for drugs.
Three of Wandsworth’s 1,444 men died in March. Thomas James, 84, died on 15 March, one day before his 85th birthday. Ahmed Said, 31, died on 21 March. Kamal Uddin, 49, died on 22 March. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is investigating all three deaths. No cause has been published for any of them.
The 175-year-old building
Wandsworth was built in 1851. It is one of 32 Victorian-era prisons still operating in England and Wales, a cohort that together holds around one in four of all prisoners in the country.
Adding to the overcrowding is the fact that 85 of its certified cells currently sit out of service because they are damaged, because building works are under way, or because there are not enough staff to run them safely. At a 175-year-old prison under active renovation, all three can apply at the same time.
Wandsworth’s out-of-service rate i.e. the number of cells that exist in the prison but cannot currently be used is 8.7%, nearly double the system average of 4.6%.
One wing at a time
In August 2024, following a chief inspector’s inspection in which he said he had never encountered such despair at a prison, the government pledged £100 million for improvements at Wandsworth. Work began on K Wing in September 2025. As of October 2025, £37.6 million of that £100 million had been committed. The Independent Monitoring Board has noted the programme proceeds at roughly one wing per year. The full rebuild will take up to eight years.
A March 2026 monitoring visit found genuine improvement alongside persistent problems. Violence was down sharply, the prison was fully staffed, and a dedicated reform wing was showing results. The same visit found rats, broken showers, and men leaving the gate with nowhere to go. Maximum overcrowding and active renovation, at the same time, in the same building.
Ongoing coverage
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has documented 29 deaths connected to the prison since 2019. Earlier this week, an ombudsman investigation found that a 2022 death at the prison was preventable and that the same failures had been identified multiple times before.
MPs who visited the prison in November 2025 warned that overcrowding was crushing rehabilitation efforts.
Families of those who have died in custody can get support and legal guidance from INQUEST. The Wandsworth Prison Improvement Campaign campaigns on conditions at the prison and runs the Leavers Lounge programme for men leaving custody. Fleur Anderson, the MP for Putney, can be contacted to raise prison conditions in Parliament.
Thank you for writing so clearly about this very important issue. Terrible things happen at this place right in our midst and we don’t think about them. Good people are trying very hard to set matters right. Thanks for bringing their efforts forward.