§ Mr. MullinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide estimates for the annual cost of imprisoning a category A prisoner for each year since 1974.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from D. Lewis to Mr. Chris Mullin, dated November 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question concerning the annual cost of holding category A prisoners, since 1974.Costs are collected by the type of establishment, rather than the category of prisoner.All convicted category A prisoners are held in one of six dispersal prisons. The average annual cost of holding an inmate in a dispersal prison (at 1993–94 prices) is given for the years 1983–84 to 1992–93. Prior to 1983 the dispersal prisons were not costed separately.
Average annual cost (at 1993–94 prices) of holding a prisoner in a dispersal prison Year £ 1983–84 42,010 1984–85 40,435 1985–86 37,279 1986–87 35,885 1987–88 40,570 1988–89 36,730 1989–90 35,294 1990–91 36,333 1991–92 44,627 1992–93 143,599 1 Provisional. Dispersal prisons hold all categories of inmates and we are unable to isolate those costs which relate directly to the category A prisoners.