The United Kingdom has three distinct legal systems with a separate prison system in each: one for both England and Wales, one for Scotland, and one for Northern Ireland. As of June 2023, the United Kingdom has the highest per-capita incarceration rate in Western Europe, at 159 people per 100,000 in England and Wales; 162 people per 100,000 in Scotland; 97 people per 100,000 in Northern Ireland; and the largest prison population in Western Europe. The average cost per prison place (including all resource expenditure) was £46,696 in England and Wales (2021/22), £46,892 in Scotland (2021/22), and £47,927 in Northern Ireland (2022/23).
As of June 2023, the total UK prison population was 95,526: composed of 85,851 prisoners from England and Wales, 7,775 from Scotland and 1,900 from Northern Ireland. In 2019, the recidivism rate in the UK was close to 50% after one year.
Demographics
People from ethnic minority backgrounds
People of minority ethnicities (BAME) constitute 13% of the general population, but make up 27% of the prison population. In 2019, Lammy expressed deep concern at the high proportion of BAME males in young offender institutions with 51% of boys in young offender institutions identifying as BAME, saying that "England and Wales are now hitting an American scale of disproportionality in our youth justice system". The over-representation of the black population in prisons may be a result of stop and search, custodial remands and the make-up of the prison population itself with 32% of all children in prison being black.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Prison Population by Ethnic Group as of 31 March 2024
!Position
!Ethnic group
!Prison <br/>population
!Per cent of <br/>incarcerated population
!Per cent of <br/>population (2021 Census)<sup>‡</sup>
|-
|1
|White or White British
|63,103
|71.8%
|81.7%
|-
|2
|Black or Black British
|10,624
|12.1%
|4.0%
|-
|3
|Asian or Asian British
|7,067
|8.0%
|9.3%
|-
|4
|Mixed
|4,188
|4.8%
|2.9%
|-
|5
|Other ethnic group
|1,794
|2.0%
|2.1%
|-
| colspan="2" |Unrecorded / Non stated
|1,093
|1.2%
|—
|-
| colspan="2" |Total (2024)
|87,869
|100%
|100%
|}
<small>Notes:<br>
<sup>‡</sup> 2021 Census, England and Wales only
</small>
Religious group
In the two decades since 2002, the proportion of Christian prisoners has fallen, by 14%, to 44% of the incarcerated population meanwhile the proportion of Muslim prisoners has risen, by 10%, to 18%. Other religious groups did not see a significant change in proportion. According to the UK prison officers' union in 2013, some Muslim prisoners in the UK had allegedly forcibly converted fellow inmates to Islam in prisons. There have been multiple cases of non-Muslim prisoners threatened with violence with "convert or get hurt" being a commonly used phrase by Muslim gangs according to an independent report published by the government. In category A and B prisons, former inmates have publicly spoken out on the rise of Islamism with the "balance of power" in reputational violence now shifted towards Muslim gangs. Prisoners who refuse to convert or who stand up to Islamic gangs are at risk of being attacked and face death threats. Some prisons have been unable to cope with the rise of Islamic gangs, and have opted to place threatened inmates into isolation units for their own safety.
The Fishmonger's Hall, Streatham, and Reading attacks brought increased attention on the risk of Islamist gangs and convicted terrorists radicalising other inmates in prisons. Concerns were first raised in 2010 by the Royal United Services Institute over the growing radicalisation of Muslims in prisons. According to Jonathan Hall KC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, convicted terrorists "enjoy high status" in prisons and other inmates are attracted to their extremist interpretation of Islam. The 2023 CONTEST report found that Islamic terrorists represented 64% of those in custody for terrorism-connected offences with 44% of declared terrorist attacks in the UK since 2018 perpetrated by serving or recently released Muslim prisoners. Attempts to engage imprisoned terrorists with de-radicalisation programmes have been largely unsuccessful.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Prison Population by Religious Group as of 31 March 2024
!Position
!Religious group
!Prison <br/>population
!Per cent of <br/>incarcerated population
!Per cent of <br/>population (2021 Census)<sup>‡</sup>
|-
|1
|style="background:#E0E0FF;" |Christianity
|39,068
|44.5%
|46.2%
|-
|2
| style="background:#F5F5F5;" |No religion
|27,122
|30.9%
|37.2%
|-
|3
| style="background:#E0FFD0;" |Islam
|15,909
|18.1%
|6.5%
|-
|4
| style="background:#F0E0F0;" |Other religious group
|2,335
|2.7%
|0.6%
|-
|5
| style="background:#FFFFC0;" |Buddhism
|1,656
|1.9%
|0.5%
|-
|6
|style="background:#F0F0C0;" |Sikhism
|578
|0.7%
|0.9%
|-
|7
|style="background:#E0F0FF;" |Judaism
|511
|0.6%
|0.5%
|-
|8
| style="background:#FFE0C0;" |Hinduism
|348
|0.4%
|1.7%
|-
| colspan="2" |Not recorded
|335
|0.4%
|6.0%
|-
| colspan="2" |Non recognised
|7
|0.0%
|—
|-
| colspan="2" |Total (2024)
|87,869
|100%
|100%
|}
<small>Notes:<br>
<sup>‡</sup> 2021 Census, England and Wales only
</small>
Immigrants and foreign nationals
76,869 British nationals were recorded in the prison population at the end of the first quarter of 2024. The remainder of the population was made up of 10,422 foreign nationals, making up 11.9% of the total population, with an additional 578 having no nationality recorded.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Foreign Nationals in the Prison Population as of 31 March 2024
!Position
!Nationality status
!Prison population
!Per cent of Total
!Foreign nationals<br/> (2021 Census)<sup>‡</sup>
!Incarceration rate per 1,000<br/> foreign nationals
|-
|1
| Albania
|1,273
|12.2%
|21,000*
|60.62
|-
|2
| Poland
|906
|8.7%
|760,146
|1.19
|-
|3
| Romania
|750
|7.2%
|550,298
|1.36
|-
|4
| Ireland
|649
|6.2%
|364,726
|1.78
|-
|5
| Jamaica
|381
|3.7%
|28,634
|13.31
|-
|6
| Lithuania
|361
|3.5%
|185,159
|1.95
|-
|7
| Pakistan
|313
|3.0%
|166,425
|1.88
|-
|8
| Portugal
|290
|2.8%
|286,489
|1.01
|-
|9
| India
|271
|2.6%
|369,224
|0.73
|-
|10
| Iraq
|259
|2.5%
|10,237
|25.30
|-
|11
| Somalia
|250
|2.4%
|109,567
|2.28
|-
|12
| Iran
|248
|2.4%
|16,462
|15.06
|-
|13
| Nigeria
|233
|2.2%
|117,638
|1.98
|-
|14
| Afghanistan
|172
|1.7%
|14,272
|12.05
|-
|15
| Vietnam
|167
|1.6%
| Data Unavailable
Age group
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Age Groups in the Prison Population as of 31 March 2024
!Age group
!Prison population
!Per cent of Total
!Per cent of <br/>population (2021 Census)<sup>‡</sup>
|-
|15–17
|264
|0.3%
|3.4%
|-
|18–20
|3,090
|3.5%
|rowspan="2"| 8.3%
|-
|21–24
|8,155
|9.3%
|-
|25–29
|13,226
|15.1%
|6.5%
|-
|30–39
|29,339
|33.4%
|13.7%
|-
|40–49
|18,175
|20.7%
|12.7%
|-
|50–59
|9,391
|10.7%
|13.7%
|-
|60–69
|4,250
|4.8%
|10.7%
|-
|70 and over
|1,979
|2.3%
|13.5%
|-
|Total (2024)
|87,869
|100%
|82.5%
|}
<small>Notes:<br>
<sup>‡</sup> 2021 Census, England and Wales only<br/>
</small>
Children and young people aged under 18 are not sent to adult prisons if they are sentenced to custody. They either go to young offender institutions (for prisoners aged 15–21), secure training centres (for those aged under 17) or secure children's homes (for those aged under 15). In 2019 an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse published a report that described the scale of alleged abuse in young offender institutions and secure training centres as “shockingly high”.</blockquote>
In 2018 there were more than 1,500 prisoners over 70, including more than 200 aged over 80, creating increasing demands on health and social care systems.
Gender
3,635 women were recorded in the prison population (4.1%) at the end of the first quarter of 2024. There is evidence that women may be a particularly vulnerable prison population: they account for 20% of self-injury behind bars, and are twice as likely to report mental health issues as male prisoners. In 2018 the government launched a new Female Offender Strategy to try and address the needs of this particular population. Women who give birth in prison may keep their baby for the first 18 months in a mother and baby unit.
Drug abusers
The proportion of prisoners developing a drug abuse problem while incarcerated rose from 8.4% in 2013-2014 to nearly 15% in 2018–2019. Much of the prison system is badly equipped to disrupt illegal drug supply and security standards vary between prisons.
See also
- List of countries by incarceration rate
References
</references>
External links
- HM Prison Service - England and Wales
- Scottish Prison Service
- Northern Ireland Prison Service