Prisoners

Ministry of Justice written question – answered on 4th July 2019.

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Photo of Lord Pearson of Rannoch Lord Pearson of Rannoch UKIP

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current size of the (1) general population, and (2) prison population of England and Wales; and what proportion of each of those populations were Muslim in (a) 1989, (b) 1999, (c) 2009, and (d) 2018.

Photo of Lord Pearson of Rannoch Lord Pearson of Rannoch UKIP

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) Christian, and (2) Muslim, prison chaplains there were in England and Wales in (a) 1989, (b) 1999, (c) 2009, and (d) 2018.

Photo of Lord Keen of Elie Lord Keen of Elie The Advocate-General for Scotland, Lords Spokesperson (Ministry of Justice)

Staffing figures for prison chaplains in public sector prisons from 1989 until 2009 are not available, as figures were not collated centrally during this period.

The table below shows the number of Christian (which includes Anglican, Free Church, Roman Catholic, Orthodox) and Muslim Chaplains (full-time equivalent) employed at public prison establishments by religion of the post from the most recently collated figures.

Date

31 March 2009

31 March 2018

Christian

151

157

Muslim

45

61

The Department does not hold data on the general population.

With regard to the proportion of the prison population who identify as Muslim, we are unable to access data from 1989 and 1999 without incurring disproportionate costs.

The figures for 2009 and 2018 are available and are presented in the table below:

Date

30 June 2009

30 June 2018

Total prison population

83,319

82,773

Total prisoners recorded as Muslim

9,932

12,894

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