§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many(a) males and (b) females convicted or charged with a drug-related offence are currently imprisoned; if he will list their countries of origin; and if he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonInformation on the offences of the current prison population is not collected on a day-to-day basis. Nor is information collected on the country of origin of prisoners convicted of certain categories of offence.
Yearly breakdowns are, however, available of the offences of convicted prisoners received into prison. The number of direct receptions of prisoners convicted of drugs offences for two years 1989–90 was 613. Their average sentence length of 590 days, allowing for remission, suggests an average daily population of such prisoners of approximately 325. The inclusion of fine defaulters convicted of drugs offences might boost that figure to approximately 350. Information is not collected on the charges faced by remand prisoners.
Of the 40 foreign nationals in Scottish prisons on 15 May 1991, 14 were serving sentences for drug offences— 369W four from Pakistan, two each from Colombia and the Netherlands, and one each from Cyprus, Denmark, Guyana, Malta, Nigeria and Peru.