UK: A third of youth lags are foreign, Somalia tops the list

By LUKE HEIGHTON and JOHN KAY

A THIRD of criminals entering Britain's top youth jail last year were foreign, it was revealed yesterday.

More than 2,000 crooks aged ten to 18 passed through Feltham Young Offenders Institute in West London.

A total of 632 were not born in the UK. Somalia was the birthplace of one in ten of the foreigners — the highest of any nationality.

It was followed by Romania, Jamaica, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Algeria, Lithuania, Congo, Ireland and Portugal.

Think-tank MigrationWatch last night said the figures, from January 2010 to April 2011, were "shocking".

Its chairman Sir Andrew Green said: "Clearly the efforts made to integrate these people from immigrant communities have failed."

The Sun obtained the figures through a Freedom of Information request.

They appear to confirm studies over the last ten years showing a steady rise in crimes committed by young Somali men.

But charity Somali Action on Youth Crime said the figures were "biased".

Its director Mustafa Ibrahim said: "Government forms don't distinguish between Somalis and people from other parts of Africa, so Somalis get blamed for crimes by other people."

But a Prison Service spokesman insisted other African prisoners are not classed as Somalis. He said: "Prisoners are asked to state their nationality and place of birth."

Source: The Sun