Foreign-born prisoners in UK jails are at the highest level since 2013, new figures reveal.
The number of foreigners in prisons for serious violent, sexual and theft offences has risen over the past year – according to official data published for the first time.
Around 1,731 foreign criminals are in prison in England and Wales for sexual offences – one in eight of the foreign offender prison population and 10.6% of all sex offenders in prisons.
This figure has surged by almost 10% in the past 12 months – a rate of increase almost three times higher than that of British people imprisoned for sexual offences.
There were 10,722 foreign criminals and suspects in prison cells in England and Wales at the end of June as the British population declined – the Ministry of Justice figures reveal.
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The figures reveal that the number of foreign-born prisoners is now higher than at any point since 2013, The Times reported.
They account for one in eight of the total prison population – costing an estimated £580m each year.
Experts believe the rise has been linked to record immigration since 2020 and the high number of people in custody on remand awaiting trial.
Judges are more likely to deny bail to foreign defendants due to the higher risk that they may try to leave the country.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, slammed “uncontrolled immigration” and urged Sir Keir Starmer to introduce emergency measures to deport the entire foreign prisoner population by threatening to suspend visas from countries that refused to take them back.
Ben Brindle, of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, told The Times: “Foreign nationals are significantly over-represented among those held on remand.
“Courts are less likely to grant migrants bail as they’re often perceived as having a higher risk of absconding. The likelihood somebody commits a crime varies depending on where they are from, but also their wider characteristics, such as age, sex and socioeconomic status.
“Foreign nationals are younger than Brits, on average, and younger people are more likely to commit crime.”
