HM Inspectorate of Prisons' annual survey of children in custody, for 2017/18, found that 51 per cent of boys in YOIs identify themselves as being from a BME background, compared with 48 per cent when the same question was asked last year.
This is the highest level since the inspectorate started compiling the survey in 2001.
The survey also showed considerable variation across YOIs, with 71 per cent of inmates at Feltham identifying as being of BME heritage, while at the Keppel Unit the proportion is 21 per cent.
The survey results come more than a year after the publication of Labour MP David Lammy's independent review into the disproportionate representation of people from BME backgrounds in the justice system.
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