Muslims nearly five times more likely to be jailed in UK

Muslims in Britain are nearly five times more likely to be put in prison than their Christian counterparts, according to official government figures .

In a written reply to parliament this week, Home Office Minister Paul Boateng said that Muslims made up 7 per cent of the 64,529 prison population in England and Wales on June 30, 1999.

Although there was no exact figure on the religious composition of the country, he said that a British social attitudes survey conducted in 1999 found that Muslims represent 1.5 per cent of the total population.

The religious affiliation of inmates, recorded as a standard part of the reception process into prison, included 1.5 per cent Buddhists, Hindus or Sikh compared with their 1 per cent of the general population. Prisoners identifying themselves as belonging to one of the Christian denominations total 62.5 per cent of inmates compared with 52 per cent of the country's population recorded in the survey.

Those professing to have no religion, made up the remaining 28 per cent of prisoners against 44 per cent of the general population sample, who claimed to be atheists.