Overview

• Ministry of Justice data reveal 1,731 foreign sex offenders in custody, a 9.9% increase over 12 months, and 3,250 foreign violent offenders at their highest level on record
• Foreign nationals account for 12.3% of the 87,000 prisoners in England and Wales and 19.7% of those jailed for drug offences
• Albanians remain the largest foreign national group in prison with 1,193 inmates, followed by Poles, Romanians, Lithuanians and Jamaicans
• Contraband drone deliveries rose by 43% to 1,712 incidents in the year to March, while assaults on prison staff climbed 7% to a record 10,568
• The government plans to enact legislation by September lowering the custodial threshold for deporting foreign offenders from 50% to 30% of a sentence served