“SHAMEFUL” new evidence reveals today that over half of children behind bars are from black or other minority backgrounds – the highest level since records began in 2001.

Campaigners are warning that institutional racism, cuts and private prisons have fuelled this disproportionate number of non-white kids being incarcerated.

A survey by prison inspectors in England and Wales over 2017-18 has found that 51 per cent of boys in young offenders institutes (YOIs) were non-white.