Critically consider what have been the main factors shaping the size and nature of the prison population since the 1990s.

The growth of the prison population within the United Kingdom in that last 18 years has been astonishing, more noticeably in England and Wales where it incarcerates more of its population than the rest of Western Europe, with 147 people per 100,000 in prison (BBC, 2007). As a result since 1994, British prisons have become overcrowded leading to a lack of faith in Government penal policy. In this essay I will be highlighting the main factors which have significantly contributed and influenced the growth of the prison population in the United Kingdom since the early 1990s….(short extract)