§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many empty places for inmates serving life sentences there were at training prisons in England and Wales on 15 April. [26305]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility 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 Richard Tilt to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 25 April 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking how many empty places for inmates serving life sentences there were at training prisons in England and Wales on 15 April.There are currently 48 prisons with regime arrangements for life sentence prisoners. However, only Kingston prison, at Portsmouth, is an all-lifer prison. Lifer places in training prisons are not reserved and therefore the question of empty places for such prisoners does not arise.