Keeping foreign criminals in British prisons is now costing the public purse almost £630 million annually, a new analysis has found.

Official figures published last week show foreign national offenders account for roughly one in eight of the total prison population in England and Wales. Of 87,342 inmates, 10,487 hold foreign nationality. At £60,018 per prison place per year, the cumulative cost to the taxpayer reaches £629,408,766.

To put the figure in context, this would be enough to employ around 16,500 police officers or some 15,000 NHS nurses, reports GB News.

The bill has ballooned by 77 per cent in ten years, rising from around £355 million, with the expense of running a prison itself up 65 per cent over the same period. A decade ago, the average annual cost per inmate stood at £36,259.

Foreign nationals now represent 12 per cent of the prison population, edging up from 11 per cent ten years ago.

Which nationalities make up the most foreign prisoners in British jails?

By nationality, Albanians lead with 969 prisoners, ahead of Irish nationals on 718 and Polish on 683. Romanians number 674 and Indians 396.

Figures released separately last year indicated that close to a quarter of foreign offenders were sentenced to ten years or more.

Opposition parties have seized on the figures to demand tougher deportation rules. Both Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage have pledged to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Critics argue the convention has been used to block the removal of foreign criminals, particularly through Article 3, which bans torture, and Article 8, covering the right to family life.

What is the government saying about foreign national prisoners?

Labour has refused to leave the convention, but Home Office ministers have been pushing to tighten deportation policy. Under reforms unveiled last year, foreign inmates with no right to remain can now be removed once they have completed 30 per cent of their term, having previously needed to reach the halfway point, with the change aimed at relieving pressure on an overstretched prison estate.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "This Government's record on deporting foreign national offenders speaks for itself with more than 8,700 removed since July 2024 — up 32 per cent on the 19 months prior.

"We are also changing the law so foreign prisoners can be deported earlier than ever before as we restore order and control to our borders."