England worse than China in prison population rate

England has proportionately more people in prison than China, Saudi Arabia or Turkey, according to world prison population statistics released by the Home Office yesterday.

The figures, compiled by Roy Walmsley, the research director of World Prison Brief Online, confirm that England and Wales's rate of 125 inmates per 100,000 population is the second highest in the EU, behind only Portugal. Scotland jails 120 per 100,000, and Northern Ireland 50 per 100,000. The official figure for England and Wales hit a record 68,615 inmates last Friday.

The world prison population list, which gives details of prisoners held in 200 countries, shows that there are more than 8.75m people in prison around the world. About half are in the US (1.93m), China (1.43m) and Russia (0.96m).

The US and Russia lock up more of their citizens than anywhere else, with the US incarcerating 700 inmates for every 100,000 of its population and Russia 665.

But while the English rate of 125 per 100,000 places it about halfway down the league table it is still on a par with countries such as Burma (120) and Libya (125) which are not known for their human rights record.

The English rate is higher than China (110); Saudi Arabia (45) and Turkey (110).

Richard Garside, of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, said the home secretary, David Blunkett, could take the credit for encouraging debate on Britain's overuse of prison.

"We would like him to set a target to bring down prison numbers in England and Wales to the European Union average of 97 per 100,000 as a first step towards a more ra tional prisons policy," he said. Hitting the EU average would mean bringing the prison population down from 74,500 to 58,200, he added.

Mr Blunkett last week announced plans to introduce weekend prisons and a network of secure hostels for minor offenders as ways of curbing the growth in the inmate population.

How we compare with Europe

(Prison population per 100,000)

Portugal 130

England & Wales 125

Spain 115

Germany95

Italy 95

Belgium 85

France 85

Netherlands 85

Ireland 80

Sweden 65