We know, from David Lammy and many other sources, that people from a BAME background are over-represented in our prisons. Last week the MoJ published its response to a number of Freedom of Information requests including one which gave the ethnicity of prisoners at every prison establishment in England and Wales on the 31st December last year.
When the data entries for prisoners whose ethnicity was either not recorded or who preferred not to provide it are removed, we can see that on New Year’s Eve 73.1% of our prison population was recorded as “white”, 12.7% as “Black/African/Caribbean/Black British”, 8.1% as “Asian/Asian British”, 4.6% as “Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups” and 1.5% as “other ethnic groups”.
What I found of more interest was how the ethnic composition different establishments varied so much. Obviously, we would expect local prisons which serve multiracial communities to have more of a mix, but I still found the breakdown provided in the FOI response intriguing.
For instance, less than one percent of the prisoners at HMPs Askham Grange, Haverigg, Kirklevington Grange and Lancaster Farms were of Black heritage. By comparison, more than a third of prisoners at Aylesbury (36.3%), Belmarsh (36.4%), Brixton (34.3%), Cookham Wood (41.3%), Feltham (41.8%), Isis (43.8%), Onley (34.9%) and Thameside (34.1%) were Black.
The highest proportion of prisoners of an Asian ethnic background were being held at: Birmingham (15%), Featherstone (16.1%), Hatfield (19.3%), Huntercombe (17.3%), Sudbury (19.1%), Werrington (15.6%) and Wormwood Scrubs (16.9%). At these establishments, more than 1 in 7 prisoners was recorded as being either Asian or Asian British.
There were also five prisons where more than one in ten prisoners was from a mixed ethnic background: Aylesbury (10.3%), Brinsford (10.8%), Cookham Wood (12%), Feltham (11.2%) and Werrington (13.8%).
On the series of charts below, the prisons are arranged in alphabetical order and you can hover over the dots to see the establishment name and percentage of the prison population from Black, Asian and Mixed ethnic backgrounds respectively.
Conclusion
I also found it interesting that such is the racial disproportionality in our justice system that I was able to find no fewer than 12 institutions where prisoners recorded as white were less than half the population: Aylesbury (42.6%), Belmarsh (44.6%), Brixton (48.4%), Cookham Wood (38.9%), Feltham (32.5%), Huntercombe (43.5%), Isis (32.8%), Onley (41.6%), Pentonville (41.6%), Thameside (37.5%), Werrington (44%), and Wormwood Scrubs (42.6%).
You can also use the data to look at the ethnic profile of different categories of prison, those catering for different genders or those who mainly accommodate perpetrators of particular crimes (some institutions specialise in holding sex offenders, for instance).
Clearly this is not the most sophisticated analysis but I hope the figures may encourage some readers to take the opportunities which are provided to all of us by such Freedom of Information responses. You can get the data here, along with information on the use of the 1824 Vagrancy Act, careless driving prosecutions, releases from selected prisons into unsettled accommodation and much more.
Thanks to Andy Aitchison for the header image taken at HMP Wandsworth. You can see Andy’s work here.
18 responses
1. Is it right that prisoners are not necessarily incarcerated in prisons where they committed their crimes?
2. To draw any important conclusions from these statistics we need to know much more…particularly the type of crime committed by the inmate and their background. Until we have a more complete picture it is not possible to make any attempt at reforming society to reduce not only the BAME prison intake but for all others as well.
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Prisoners will usually be remanded in custody close to where they live. Feltham is a young offenders remand centre close to central London where there is a higher BAME population that say Cornwall as an example, so there is a large percentage of BAME prisoners. Birmingham, among other areas has higher populations than other areas of Asian people, so naturally their prisons reflect this. Sentenced prisoners will be sent to a prison of a category that reflects the crime and that has space. If there is no space at any London prison for example then that person can be sent to any prison in the country.
Lots of graphs with dots. Lots of statements . Very little detail [actual numbers]
Hi Frank, the dots show you the percentage of each ethnic group in every prison. If you want to see the capacity of each prison, you can check out this chart: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/858998/
Best Wishes
Russell
I agree. These graphs are poorly presented. There are more ‘dots’ than there are prisons on the x-axis. Presumably, the prisons along the x-axis have been sorted in alphabetical order and only every 3rd or 4th prison labelled.
The split graphs also make it difficult to compare the breakdown for each prison. A much better representation would have been a single stacked bar for each prison depicting each race – with the prisons along the x-axis sorted on % BAME rather than alphabetical.
The whole analysis also fails to contextualise what these figures mean in terms of UK population breakdown.
If you are trying to show a racial bias as to where prisoners are held then you haven’t demonstrated it. Some prisons hold mainly local, minor criminals while other, Category A, prisons hold those convicted of serious crimes such as murder and terrorism, from allover the UK. Some Cat A prison fill both roles such as Belmarsh. AFAIK prisoners will be moved to the jail most suited to their crime and risk of escaping rather than their race. Therefore I don’t think your graph proves or disproves anything. If you could add in the crime, length of sentence, the distance from the prisoners offence to the jail, and the category of the jail then you may find something meaningful.
This is very useful as the breakdown of ethnicity is often grouped together. Do you have any information on the ethnicity of the staff serving in these establishments e.g. OSGs, Officer grades, SMT, education, healthcare?
Thanks Sylvia. I’m afraid I’m not aware of any staff ethnicity figures on an establishment basis.
Best Wishes
Russell
What percentage is ‘White British’?
What percentage is ‘White British’?
I don’t think you have stated that.
The present age left duuuu!
These figures are from 2018, it will make even more interesting reading when we have the next census completed, 2021 I believe. The protionality in prisons as opposed to the population re BAME.
What nobody wants to address is the elephant in the room: certain ethnic groups are culturally predisposed to criminality, and hence over represented in prison, whereas others eg Chinese are under represented.
As even a elephant could work out criminality is driven by povity lack of education and opportunity in the same way high level fraud financial embezzlement white collar crime , can be linked to highly educated privileges well connected specific ethic groups with the financial resources and connections to avoid prison and repercussions
There are many reasons for crime, but it is not as simple as poverty.
Cultural attitudes also play a part, including making claims that the UK is racist.
Every child in the UK has the same access to state schools, with the ability to go onto further education.
Home life plays a big part in encouraging children to learn and earn. As a White working class man, my own parents encouraged me to get a job at the age of 16.
I will be encouraging my own children to go to uni to get qualifications to earn more. At no point have I thought of turning to crime, I just work hard.
This has nothing to do with ethnicity.
That’s very true about criminal predisposition; take for example Albanians who make up 17% of all foreign nationals in prison in England & Wales.. Not is it simply a matter of poverty, because there are many poor former-nationals who are not overrepresented in British prisons. To turn a blind eye to this encourages the same situation as happened with Asian grooming gangs in northern English towns.
0% were ‘White British’
based on the data presented.
Why do you focus on prison population by ethnicity.
If prisoners have committed a crime, and are in prison for those crimes then where is the injustice?
If you want to use statistics, men are 22 times more likely to be in prison then women. Where are the claims of sexism, or does this not fit the narrative you are pushing?