§ 40. Mr. SWANasked the Home Secretary if he will state the average cost per week of a prisoner in His Majesty's prisons in the United Kingdom?
§ Mr. SHORTTI would refer the hon. Member, so far as England and Wales are concerned, to Appendix VII. of the Annual Report of the Prison Commissioners. He will see that the answer to his question depends on the class of prison and the items taken into account. Taking into account the cost of staff, maintenance, and all miscellaneous charges, but not the cost of prison buildings, the weekly average for convict prisons is 35s. 4d., and for local 602 prisons 24s. 1d. These figures are considerably reduced if allowance is made for the value of the prisoners' labour.