Welsh people more likely to be jailed than the English

WELSH people are more likely to go to prison than their English counterparts, a study has found.

Sentencing figures show there were 154 prisoners for every 100,000 people in Wales, a higher proportion than England – which has the secondhighest imprisonment rate in Western Europe with 141 prisoners per 100,000 of its population.

The statistics represent the first time prison figures in both countries have been analysed separately.

They show more people are being jailed in Wales despite having a lower crime rate than its neighbour every year between 2013 and 2017.

A report by Cardiff University researchers shows the total number of prison sentences handed out in England fell by 16 per cent between 2010 and 2017, while in Wales the number increased by 0.3 per cent.

Dr Robert Jones, from the university’s Wales Governance Centre, said that while it is well-established that England and Wales has the highest imprisonment rates in Western Europe, the disparities between the two countries will help Welsh authorities to scrutinise its own criminal justice system.

Dr Jones added: “Gradually, a detailed picture is emerging of the justice system in Wales and how it is quite different to that of England.

“A thorough debate is needed on why these kinds of sentencing and custodial patterns occur in Wales and whether these are the outcomes that the UK and Welsh governments want to see from the criminal justice system.”

The figures were obtained from the Ministry of Justice using the Freedom of Information Act, and were published yesterday in Sentencing and Immediate Custody in Wales: A Factfile.