§ Mr. George HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the current net operating cost per prisoner place in(a) local prisons and remand centres, (b) contracted-out prisons, (c) dispersal prisons, (d) category B training prisons, (e) category C 756W
Information on the percentage of prisoner escorts conducted in secure, including cellular, vehicles is not recorded by the police and prison services. Again, the only information available relates to privately managed prisoner escorts.It is the general policy of contractors to transport all prisoners in cellular vehicles except where special circumstances apply, for example where the prisoner is heavily pregnant or a nursing mother or disabled. In Area 3 Securicor have conducted 98.3 per cent of prisoner escorts using cellular vehicles and in Area 7 Group 4 estimate over 99 per cent of such escorts have been in cellular vehicles.Since Securicor began managing prisoner escorts in Greater London in June 1994 there have been two escapes from their custody. This compares with 16 in 1993 under the previous arrangements. The two figures are not directly comparable because the contract with Securicor is being phased in and will not be fully operational until June this year. Nevertheless, the figures so far indicate their performance will be better.