§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are considering day, night-time or weekend imprisonment, as opposed to full imprisonment, for women who have been convicted of serious offences. [HL1353]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe recent report of the Home Affairs Committee in another place into alternatives to prison sentences suggested that the Government should consider looking at the feasibility of weekend prison. The Government's reply to the report (Alternatives to Prison Sentences, Cm 4174) explained that, although ideas such as intermittent or weekend imprisonment had been considered and rejected as impractical in the past, the Home Office had looked at the idea again in the light of recent developments such as electronic monitoring. It had, however, concluded that, from an operational perspective, it would be difficult to manage the logistics of such an arrangement.
Those prison places made available by those on home leave would not necessarily be either sufficient or in the right locations for those given weekend sentences. Extra staff would also have to be drafted in, not only at individual establishments to manage the reception and regimes of such prisoners but also centrally to manage and co-ordinate the process. The Government are, however, currently considering the possibility of using suspended sentences, by themselves or in combination with community penalties or supervision, to deal with particular types of offender.