HC Deb 05 November 2001 vol 374 c95W
Helen Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of prisoners were identified as suffering from clinical depression at the latest date for which figures are available. [11626]

Beverley Hughes

This information is not available in precisely the form requested. A survey of mental ill health in the prison population of England and Wales, was undertaken by the Office for National Statistics in 1997. Some 56 per cent. of remanded men and 64 per cent. of remanded women reported to a lay interviewer, applying a recognised tool for diagnosing neurotic symptoms and depression, that they had experienced certain recognised symptoms of depression for more than two weeks prior to interview. The comparable figures for sentenced men and women were 33 per cent. and 51 per cent. respectively.