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United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
has three distinct legal systems with a separate prison system in each: one for both
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...
, one for
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, and one for
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
.


Numbers of prisoners

The total UK prison population was 83,618 (0.088% of the population, based on the total number of people who have lived in Britain since the start time of Britains longest serving prisoner), 79,749 men and 3,869 women in 2018. Men are 22 times as likely as women to be imprisoned. In 2019 England and Wales had the largest prison population in Western Europe. There are calls to lock fewer people up and instead invest in creating rehabilitative environments in prisons and in the community. It is argued creating rehabilitative environments will stop crime more effectively than long prison sentences. Policies towards prisons should be based on evidence of what works.


Prison population


People from ethnic minority backgrounds

People from BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) backgrounds constitute only 14% of the general population in England and Wales, but make up 25% of its prison population. In 2017 a review led by the MP
David Lammy David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is an English politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021. A member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliamen ...
concluded that the justice system was biased against this group, and required reform. In 2019 Lammy expressed deep concern at the extremely high proportion of BAME males in young offender institutions (51% of boys in young offender institutions were BME), saying that "England and Wales are now hitting an American scale of disproportionality in our youth justice system".


Women

Women make up under 5% of the prison population in England and Wales. As of 2018, most were serving time for non-violent offences. 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 with a child aged under 18 months old may apply to bring their child into prison with them, if they are serving a short sentence. Women who give birth in prison may keep their baby for the first 18 months in a mother and baby unit.


Veterans

A growing number of British prisoners are former armed forces members. According to a study reported in the ''Guardian'' in 2009, 8500 former servicemen were imprisoned, making up almost 10% of the prison population.


Children and young people

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). The number of children in custody has declined since mid-2008, from more than 3,000 to about 900 at any one time. 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”.


Over 60

The number of British prisoners over 60 years of age rose by 130% between 2002 and 2013, a shift attributed to an increase in the convictions for historic sex abuse. The increase was reported after the 2012 commencement of
Operation Yewtree Operation Yewtree was a British police investigation into sexual abuse allegations, predominantly the abuse of children, against the English media personality Jimmy Savile and others. The investigation, led by the Metropolitan Police Service ( ...
, a police investigation into sexual abuse allegations—predominantly the abuse of children—against the British media personality
Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and '' Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well kno ...
and others. In relation to over 4,000 over-60 prisoners in UK prisons, Professor David Wilson of
Birmingham City University , mottoeng = "Do what you are doing; attend to your business" , established = 1992—gained university status1971—City of Birmingham Polytechnic1843—Birmingham College of Art , type = Public , affiliation = ...
stated in July 2014:
Four out of 10 of these prisoners (the over-60s) were convicted of sex offences and people over 60 are the fastest growing age group in the prison estate, yet there is no national strategy for the elderly who get sent to prison ... The Prison Service needs to develop a strategy to cope with this fastest growing section of the prison population or they will simply be failing in their duty of care to the elderly people that they are locking up.
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.


Scotland

Scotland recognized the growth in the prison population and acted accordingly to make adjustments to how the law was carried out so that the system operates efficiently. One of the actions made was to decrease the number of stop-and-searches and between the period of June 2015 and August 2016, there was reportedly an 81% decrease in those actions when statistics from 2014 were compared.


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.
Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
maintains prisons are overcrowded, staff retention is poor and using community sentences instead of prison for minor offenses would help. Aidan Shilson-Thomas of Reform said, “There must always be a place in prison for those who commit serious crimes. However, prison must also be an opportunity for inmates to change their behaviour. Stabilising the system means stemming the flow of drugs, reducing overcrowding, fixing the crumbling estate and improving officer retention. Its long-term sustainability requires a serious conversation about how many people we lock up and for how long. Failing to act will mean poorer social outcomes, more reoffending and ultimately huge costs to the taxpayer.”Proportion of UK prisoners with drug problem doubles in five years – study
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
''


See also

* List of countries by incarceration rate


References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , last = Travis , first = Alan , title = Revealed: the hidden army in UK prisons , work = The Guardian , date = 2009-09-25 , pages = 1–2 , url = https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/sep/24/jailed-veteran-servicemen-outnumber-troops , access-date = 2009-09-25


External links


HM Prison Service - England and WalesScottish Prison ServiceNorthern Ireland Prison Service
Imprisonment and detention Incarceration rates Prison population