Foreign prisoner levels shock

One in every eight prisoners convicted in England and Wales is a foreign national, Cannock MP Tony Wright has revealed.

The Labour MP obtained a list of how many foreign nationals are in prisons in England and Wales. The figures were broken down by nationality after questioning Home Office minister Gerry Sutcliffe in Parliament.

Mr Wright has called on the government to crackdown on the number of foreign nationals being allowed into the UK with a criminal record and has said those convicted of a crime should be deported.

He has pledged to ask more questions on the issue in coming weeks.

The list of prison populations shows that as of September 30 there was a total population of prisoners in England and Wales of 79,335.

Of these 10,928 were classed as being foreign citizens, with 9,988 male prisoners and 940 women convicts.

Prisoners from Jamaica were the single biggest category making up 1,538 prisoners with Nigeria coming second at 974 prisoners.

By continent, 3,155 prisoners came from Europe with France making the biggest category at 171, 3,051 prisoners came from Africa, over 1,700 were from Asia and 652 convicts were from the Middle East.

The stark figures are likely to reignite the debate in parliament over the lapse in dealing with foreign nationals once they are released from prison.

The government was heavily criticised earlier this year when it admitting losing track of over 1,000 foreign nationals released from prison.

Speaking to the the Express & Star today, Mr Wright said: "When I see for example the figure of the number of Jamaicans in our prisons I wonder why they are not simply sent home. I'm very concerned about how easy it is for criminals to come here and for them not to be stopped."

By Shaun Lintern