Daily Express
December 2, 2013
Eastern European inmates in British jails are costing taxpayers just under £73million a year, official figures show.
Romanian and Polish prisoners have swollen their ranks by 60 per cent since 2010, bringing the total to 2,430 from 10 countries formerly behind the Iron Curtain.
Three years ago there were just 1,490 inmates from those nations in our jails, where it costs £30,000 to hold a prisoner each year.
The Ministry of Justice figures reveal Poles now form the biggest foreign contingent in British jails, with Romanians at Number five on the list, up from 400 in 2010 to 532.
In women’s jails, with 46 prisoners, they are the second biggest group, behind Nigerians on 47.
Romanians are most frequently jailed for theft, pick-pocketing and shoplifting, as well as burglary, robbery, fraud and sex offences.
Ukip Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall said: “It was madness that in 2004 we opened our doors to much of Eastern Europe.