Foreign prisoners held in British jails have reached their highest number since 2013.

England and Wales have recorded 10,722 individuals held in prisons as of the end of June.

These inmates represent one in eight of the total prison population, whilst the overall number of British prisoners has declined.

The annual cost of housing foreign offenders reaches approximately £580million.

Ministry of Justice statistics, released publicly for the first time, reveal a significant surge in foreign nationals imprisoned for serious violent, sexual and theft-related crimes over the previous twelve months.

The data shows foreign-born inmates now constitute a larger proportion of the prison system than at any time in more than a decade.

Sexual offences account for a particularly concerning portion of foreign prisoner numbers, with 1,731 individuals currently incarcerated for such crimes.

This represents one in eight of all foreign offenders in custody and comprises 10.6 per cent of the entire sex offender prison population.

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Foreign prisoners held in British jails have reached their highest number since 2013

The past year has seen these figures climb by almost 10 per cent, a growth rate nearly triple that observed amongst British nationals convicted of similar crimes.

Analysts attribute the overall rise to unprecedented immigration levels since 2020 and the substantial proportion of defendants held on remand.

Foreign defendants face higher rates of bail denial due to judges' concerns about flight risk from the UK.

Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, blamed “uncontrolled immigration” and called on the Prime Minister to introduce emergency measures to deport foreign prisoner population by threatening to suspend visas from countries that refused to take them back.

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England and Wales have recorded 10,722 individuals held in prisons as of the end of June

Ben Brindle, of the Migration ­Observatory at the University of ­Oxford, explained that the increase was due to the younger age of the average migrant compared with the British population and the higher likelihood that foreign defendants were denied bail.

He said: "Foreign nationals are significantly over-represented among those held on remand.

"Courts are less likely to grant migrants bail as they’re often perceived as having a higher risk of ­absconding.

"The likelihood somebody commits a crime varies depending on where they are from, but also their wider characteristics, such as age, sex and socioeconomic status.

“Foreign nationals are younger than Brits, on average, and younger people are more likely to commit crime.”

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New data revealed that the cost of keeping foreign prisoners in England and Wales is costing the taxpayer £600million annually.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance has crunched the prison nationality data released this morning and found that 11,153 foreign nationals are currently detained across the prison system, representing more than one in eight of all prisoners.

Multiple lifeboats were called out to help with chaotic scenes in the English Channel, as almost 900 small boat migrants attempted to cross to the UK on Wednesday this week.

It takes the number of migrants who have made the illegal crossing so far this year beyond 25,400.