§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information is available to him to show the average time served in prison by offenders sentenced to a term of nine months' and 18 months' imprisonment, respectively; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MellorThe average time served under sentence in prison department establishments in England and Wales by prisoners discharged in 1985 from sentences of nine months was about five months and from sentences of 18482W months about seven and a quarter months. This excludes time served in custody on remand by sentenced prisoners, for which reliable estimates are not available centrally. The corresponding informaton for adult males analysed by sentence length is published in table 4(f) of "Prison statistics England and Wales 1985" (Cmnd. 9903).
§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the cost per head of keeping a prisoner at each of Her Majesty's prisons; and how this compares with figures for each of the last five years.
§ Mr. MellorThe cost per head of keeping a prisoner at each of Her Majesty's prisons during the financial year 1985–86, the latest year for which information is available, was published in the "Work of the Prison Department 1985/86" (Cmnd. 1) appendix 3, table F. The information for 1984–85 was published in Cmnd. 9699, appendix 2, table D, and for 1983–84 in the "Prison Department Financial Report 1983/84", appendix 1, table 7. Copies of these reports are available in the Library. The figures for earlier years are not available.