12,000 foreigners in UK jails

May 4, 2007

London: The number of foreign prisoners in British jails is rising sharply and costing taxpayers nearly £400 million (Dh2.8 billion) a year, the Tories warned yesterday.

Figures released by the Home Office in a Commons written answer show there are about 12,000 non-UK nationals in prison with almost 1,500 from Jamaica alone.

Another 1,000 inmates come from Nigeria and there are significant numbers of Irish, Somalis, Turks, Iraqis and Poles. With each prisoner costing an average of £32,888 to hold, it means the annual cost to the public is £398 million.

The figures, which are higher than previous statistics which suggested about 11,000 foreign nationals were in jail, will revive the controversy about the Home Office's handling of overseas convicts. Former home secretary Charles Clarke was sacked last year after admitting that more than 1,000 foreign prisoners had been wrongly released without being considered for deportation.