December 16, 2005: Imprisonment Figures Published

The new Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004 for England and Wales published by the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate provide some interesting insights into the nature of the prison population in England and Wales.

The prison population in England and Wales rose by 830 prisoners ( an increase of 1%), between June 2003 and June 2004, reaching a total of 74,490. This was a lower rate of increase than 2001 to 2002 and 2002 to 2003, when the population rose by 7% and 3% respectively.

In the medium term, the prison population increased by 25,560 prisoners, or 52%, over the decade from 1994 to 2004. Over the longer historical term, the average prison population has grown from 17,440 in 1900 to 74,657 in 2004.

The female prison population dropped by 3% between June 2003 and June 2004, which as the statistics noted represents:

"a reversal in the trend seen over the previous 9 years, in which the female population increased year on year. Since 1994 the female prison population has increased by 147 per cent."

Over the decade ending in 2004, the female prison population serving longer sentences of 4 years or more rose by 215%.

In terms of religious affiliation, the largest group of prisoners in England and Wales in June 2004 in prison was Anglicans, who were 33% of the prison population. The other main groups were those with no religious affiliation (32%), Roman Catholics (17%) and Muslims (9%). The fastest growing religious group over the decade ending in 2004 was Buddhists, who increased by no less than 574%, and numbered 1,130 in 2004. Muslim prisoners grew by 161% over the same period. The only group to reduce in size over the decade was Jewish prisoners, who dropped by 9%.

In June 2005, there were 18,750 prisoners in England and Wales from ethnic groups other than White, representing 25% of the prison population with known ethnic group. There were 11,170 prisoners from the Black or Black British ethnic group, 15% of the total prison population, making this the largest minority ethnic group. Asian or Asian British prisoners numbered 4,560 (6% of the prison population). There were 2,160 prisoners (3% of the total) from the Mixed ethnic group.

There were 8,940 foreign national prisoners in 2004, or roughly one eighth of the total prison population.

Prisons in England and Wales held 5,590 prisoners under a life sentence on 30th June 2004.

England & Wales (with 142 prisoners per 100,000 general population) had the highest per capita imprisonment rate in the old European Union. England and Wales are followed by Spain (with 134 prisoners per 100,000 population), Scotland (133), the Netherlands (128) and Portugal (124). The new Statistics note that there were higher rates in the USA (726), Russia (529) and some of the new EU countries (up to 340 in Estonia and Latvia).

NB: The 15 member states of the old EU comprise Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland). The 10 new members from 1 May 2004 are Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia.