HL Deb 20 January 1965 vol 262 cc916-7

3.7 p.m.

VISCOUNT ST. DAVIDS

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will give a clearer idea of the length of life sentences than a simple average by giving the distribution of these sentences including those dying in custody and those killers detained as insane.]

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, in my Answer, on December 16, 1964, to a Question by my noble friend Lady Wootton of Abinger, I gave detailed information about the period of detention of life-sentence prisoners whose offence was murder. The noble Lord will see from the second table in that Answer that the period served by prisoners recently released varied from two years to twenty years. Detailed information about the period served in prison by life prisoners who have died in prison is not readily available, but I have no reason to think that its inclusion in that table would significantly change the pattern. On December 31, 1963, there were 394 persons detained in special or State hospitals under the Mental Health Acts whose crime was murder. There are also 71 such persons detained in local psychiatric hospitals in England and Wales and a few in Scotland. Since the period of detention varies from under two years to more than fifty years the classification involves too many detailed figures for an oral answer but I will, with permission, circulate them in the Official Report.

Persons whose offence was murder and who on 31st December 1963 were detained in special or state hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1959 or the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960
— Period of detention in hospital in which detained on 31st December 1963 Totals
Under 2 years 2 years and under 5 5 years and under 10 10 years and under 20 20 years and under 30 30 years and under 40 40 years and under 50 50 years and over
England and Wales … 33 52 93 108 42 21 10 2 361
Scotland … 4 10 7 8 2 2 — — 33

Notes:

1. The above figures comprise all persons detained in a special hospital—in Scotland, a State hospital—after being found insane on arraignment or guilty but insane on a charge of murder or after being found while in prison after conviction for murder to be insane or suffering from mental disorder.

2. In addition there were in the above categories 71 persons in England and Wales and a few in Scotland detained in local psychiatric hospitals on 31st December 1963, but information about the total length of detention of such persons is not available. Most of these persons will have been detained in a special or State hospital before being transferred to a local hospital.