Question
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the ethnic and religious composition of those serving prison sentences; and what it was 10 years ago. [HL89]
Data for 2008 was published in July 2009 in Offender Management Caseload Statistics on the MoJ website. (http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications /prisonandprobation.htm).
Data for 1999 was published in July 2000 in Prison Statistics England and Wales. A copy may be found at the following website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prischap6.html.
Both publications may also be found in House Libraries.
The religious composition of all prisoners in June 1999 and June 2008 is in the table below. Religion is self-declared.
1999 2008 All Christian 39,547 41,839 Anglican 27,095 23,039 Free Church 1,144 1,213 Roman Catholic 11,308 14,296 Other Christian * 3,291 Buddhist 307 1,737 Hindu 256 434 Jewish 185 220 Muslim 4,339 9,795 Sikh 437 648 Other religious groups 1,294 448 Non recognised * 347 No religion 18,157 27,710 Not recorded 7 17 Total 64,529 83,194
* Data not categorised in this way in 1999.
The ethnic composition of all prisoners in June 1999 and June 2008 are in the tables below. Data on ethnicity of prisoners in 1999 was based on 1991 census categories. Since 2004, the categories in the 2001 census have been used. The figures are therefore not strictly comparable. Ethnicity is self-declared.
1999 White 52,377 Black 7,964 South Asian 1,929 Chinese & Other 2,225 Unrecorded 34 Total 64,529
2008 White 60,196 Mixed 2,691 Asian or Asian British 5,804 Black or Black British 12,557 Chinese or Other ethnic group 1,354 Not Stated 312 Unrecorded 36 1991 Census ethnic codes 244 Total 83,194
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.