BBC NEWS | UK | The prison population

BBC News Online looks at the breakdown of the prison population as it stood on 18 October 2002 - the most current figures available.

The number of men and women in prison in England and Wales stood at 72,517, according to Prison Service statistics.

This was 5,085 more than same time last year, when the figure stood at 64,488.

Of these:

56,989 were men

3,796 were women

11,120 were young males offenders between the ages of 15 and 21

612 were young female offenders between the ages of 15 and 21.

All four categories had seen a rise in numbers over the previous month.

Of these, 64,309 were in uncrowded conditions leaving 9,612 prisoners who were being held in overcrowded conditions.

Tagged

A further 2,417 were electronically tagged and under home detention curfew.

According to Home Office figures for June 2002:

7% of prisoners were serving sentences of less than six months

7% were serving sentences of six to 12 months

38% were serving sentences of 12 months to less than four years

39% were serving sentences of four years and over, excluding life prisoners

9% were serving life sentences. Of these 4,980 were men, 170 were women and 160 were young people between the ages of 15 and 21

78% of prisoners were white, 15% black, 3% Asian and 4% Chinese and other.

The Prison Service says there are 43,931 prison staff in England and Wales, including 143 psychologists, 296 chaplains and assistant chaplains and 25,260 prison officers.

Its figures also show that 72 people committed suicide in prisons in England and Wales in 2001. In 2000 the number was 81.


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