More black people are jailed in England and Wales proportionally than in the United States

The proportion of people of African-Caribbean and African descent incarcerated in England and Wales is almost seven times greater to their share of the population. In the United States, the proportion of black prisoners to population is about four times greater. Five times more black people than white people per head of population in England and Wales are imprisoned. The ethnic minority prison population has doubled in a decade – from 11,332 in 1998 to 22,421 in 2008. Over a similar period, the overall number of prisoners rose by less than two thirds. A quarter of the people in prison are from an ethnic minority. Muslims now make up 12% of the prison population in England and Wales.