§ Lord Kilmanyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the decision to proceed no further with the conversion of Ministry of Defence camps into prisons under Section 33(2) of the Prison Act 1952 indicates a fall in the prison population to such an extent that over-crowding is no longer a problem; and whether they can provide figures to justify such an assumption.
§ Lord BelsteadOvercrowding remains a very serious problem despite a marginal reduction in the population of Prison Department establishments from 45,600 on 17th July to 43,800 on 15th October. The extra strain on the prison service of manning further camps could not, however, be justified at present.