§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many men and how many women, respectively, have been imprisoned for non-payment of fines during each of the last five years for which records are available;
(2) of those men and women, respectively, who have been imprisoned for non-payment of fines during each of the past five years for which records are available, what has been the minimum, the maximum and the average length of such sentences.
§ Mr. MellorThe readily available information on the numbers of male and female defaulters received into Prison Department establishments in each of the years 1980 to 1984 and the periods of imprisonment or detention imposed is published in table 7.3 of "Prison Statistics England and Wales 1984" (Cmnd. 9622). Data for 1985 are not yet available. For the longest period in default to be served by a male received in 1984, I would refer the hon. and learned Member to the reply given to a question from the hon. Member for Knowsley, North (Mr. Kilroy-Silk) on 17 April 1986, at column467. The rest of the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, of the men and women respectively who have been imprisoned for non-payment of fines during each of the past five years for which records are available, what has been the maximum, the minimum and the average amount of the unpaid fine in respect of which imprisonment has been imposed.
§ Mr. MellorThe information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the estimated average cost of keeping a person in prison in the United Kingdom; and what is the average cost of keeping in prison a person sentenced to one week for non-payment of a fine.
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§ Mr. MellorThe average weekly cost of keeping a person in prison in England and Wales in the financial year 1984–85—the latest year for which figures are available—was £256.
It is not possible to distinguish the costs of keeping different types of prisoner in prison. It is, however, likely that a person committed to prison for one week in default of payment of a fine would be held in a local prison, for which the average weekly cost per inmate in the financial year 1984–85 was £241.
§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the total cost of keeping in prison persons sentenced to prison for non-payment of fines, during each of the last rive years for which records are available.
§ Mr. MellorThe information is not available.