[1] In addition, since the 1990s the day-to-day running of a number of previously existing prisons, as well as several new facilities, has been "contracted out" to private companies, such as Serco and G4S.
The following tables below list all current and some historical prisons and Young Offender Institutions in use in the three UK legal systems of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as of 2022.
As of 2021, the total prison population of the UK (England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland combined) stands at roughly 87,000, one of the largest in the Western world.
[4] [5] In the UK adult prisoners are divided into 4 security categories (though male and female categories are slightly different) depending on certain factors such as the offences they have been convicted or accused of, their likelihood of attempting an escape, the threat they would pose if they escaped, their length of sentence, and any of their previous criminal convictions, if any.
There are a total of ten Category A prisons in the UK, eight are located in England and Wales, one in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland.
They are the equivalent of a minimum security work release prison or local jail in the United States for example.
Adult women in England and Wales are categorised with four slightly different types of security levels, from lowest to highest being Open, Closed, Restricted Status and Category A '.
Additionally whereas males and females aged 18 or over are held in dedicated adult prisons, those under 18 (and sometimes under 21) are held in one of three types of establishments across the country that are run by either the public prison service, private companies (such as G4S or Serco), local council authorities and in rare cases some charity providers.
Secure Children's Homes (SCHs) which are similar to STC's in that they mainly focus on things like education, welfare, health and support rather than traditional prison style punishment.