Prisoners: Islam

(asked on 4th March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Keen of Elie on 3 March (HL Deb, cols 507–9), what estimate they have made of the percentage of Muslim managing chaplains in prisons in England and Wales (1) currently, and (2) 10 years ago; and what percentage of current prisoners are Muslim.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Keen of Elie
This question was answered on 13th March 2020

As of 6 March 2020, 29% of Managing Chaplains in prisons in England and Wales were Muslim. No information is held centrally of the faith adherence ten years ago of managing chaplains (or their then equivalent). As of 31 December 2019, 16% of prisoners in England Wales declared that they were Muslim.

Data on prisoner religion up to December 2019 is shown below. These figures are regularly published on gov.uk under table 1.5 of the prison statistics information.

Table 1.5: Prison population by religion and sex

31-Dec-18

31-Mar-19

30-Jun-19

30-Sep-19

31-Dec-19

Percentage change December
2018 to 2019

Males and Females

82,236

82,634

82,710

83,810

82,868

1%

All Christian

39,293

39,515

39,257

39,731

39,176

0%

Anglican

13,496

13,480

13,273

13,389

13,225

-2%

Free Church

758

737

739

770

753

-1%

Roman Catholic

14,094

14,160

14,194

14,350

14,183

1%

Other Christian

10,945

11,138

11,051

11,222

11,015

1%

Muslim

12,894

13,008

13,341

13,474

13,424

4%

Hindu

361

343

341

354

342

-5%

Sikh

638

611

601

588

571

-11%

Buddhist

1,575

1,619

1,603

1,627

1,661

5%

Jewish

482

477

494

502

495

3%

Other religious group

1,838

1,876

1,910

1,955

1,965

7%

Non recognised

6

7

6

5

7

**

No religion

25,053

25,034

25,023

25,455

25,099

0%

Not recorded

96

144

134

119

128

33%

Males

78,476

78,802

78,940

79,943

79,165

1%

All Christian

37,119

37,336

37,167

37,607

37,102

0%

Anglican

12,827

12,789

12,632

12,763

12,604

-2%

Free Church

703

685

693

716

707

1%

Roman Catholic

13,377

13,438

13,473

13,606

13,470

1%

Other Christian

10,212

10,424

10,369

10,522

10,321

1%

Muslim

12,659

12,782

13,098

13,222

13,183

4%

Hindu

350

329

327

337

326

-7%

Sikh

618

589

581

571

555

-10%

Buddhist

1,500

1,534

1,524

1,548

1,586

6%

Jewish

476

469

484

495

487

2%

Other religious group

1,735

1,774

1,806

1,850

1,855

7%

Non recognised

6

7

6

5

6

**

No religion

23,919

23,846

23,827

24,204

23,944

0%

Not recorded

94

136

120

104

121

29%

Females

3,760

3,832

3,770

3,867

3,703

-2%

All Christian

2,174

2,179

2,090

2,124

2,074

-5%

Anglican

669

691

641

626

621

-7%

Free Church

55

52

46

54

46

**

Roman Catholic

717

722

721

744

713

-1%

Other Christian

733

714

682

700

694

-5%

Muslim

235

226

243

252

241

3%

Hindu

11

14

14

17

16

**

Sikh

20

22

20

17

16

**

Buddhist

75

85

79

79

75

0%

Jewish

6

8

10

7

8

**

Other religious group

103

102

104

105

110

7%

Non recognised

0

0

0

0

1

**

No religion

1,134

1,188

1,196

1,251

1,155

2%

Not recorded

2

8

14

15

7

**

The role of Managing Chaplain is predominantly managerial rather than faith based and posts are filled through fair and open competition in line with Civil Service guidelines.

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