HC Deb 03 February 1977 vol 925 cc242-3W
47. Mr. Richard Wainwright

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to deal with the problem of overcrowding in many English prisons.

Mr. John

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to a similar Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdare (Mr. Evans) on 18th November last.—[Vol. 919, c.652–3.]

Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the index of average length of prison sentence passed by the courts in 1967 and for each of the last five years.

Mr. John

When, as in the case of prison sentences, most of the sentences are short and crowded at one end of the scale, leading to a skew distribution, averages can be misleading. But the indices requested are shown in the following table.

IMMEDIATE IMPRISONMENT—INDICES OF AVERAGE LENGTH OF SENTENCE
England and Wales
Type of Court
Year Magistrates' Courts The Crown Court
1967 … 100 100
1971 … 100 95
1972 … 100 100
1973 … 100 100
1974 … 100 95
1975 … 100 95