Foreign inmates soar

Overseas drug mules are blamed for rise in foreign inmates

Foreign prisoners have outnumbered UK nationals for the first time in a British jail.

Of the 350 inmates at Morton Hall women's prison in Lincolnshire 65% do not have UK passports according to the Times newspaper.

The rise at the prison in Swinderby has been put down to an increase in the number of women jailed for drugs smuggling.

One in seven of the record 74,000 inmates in England and Wales is a foreign citizen.

A Prison Service spokeswoman confirmed Morton Hall was the only prison where foreign nationals outnumber UK-born prisoners.

'Jamaican drug smugglers'

Jamaicans are the biggest single foreign national group in jails.

The vast majority of Jamaican women offenders are in prison for being drug smugglers or so-called "mules."

Wandsworth Prison, in south London, has 400 Jamaican inmates - the largest concentration in the country.

The prison is now planning a pilot project to give mothers the chance to see and communicate with their children in Jamaica over the internet.

The disclosure about Morton Hall Prison came last month in a report by prison inspectors who commented it was the first time they had visited a prison with more foreign nationals than UK born prisoners.

A total of 54% of the Lincolnshire jail's population is from countries outside the EU and 140 from Jamaica.

Jails in England and Wales house people from more than 160 countries.

The percentage of foreign nationals has risen from 8% in 1999 to 13.1% in 2003 according to latest figures.