Prisoners (Hansard, 28 November 2002)

§ Mr. Malins
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison places there are in England and Wales; what the prison population is; and what plans he has to increase the number of prison places over the next three years. [82090]

§ Hilary Benn
As at 21 November 2002, the prison population of England and Wales stood at 72,477. On the same date, useable operational capacity was 72,882.
£60 million has been made available to provide 740 additional places by March 2004. This is in addition to funding from the 2002 Budget that will provide 2,320 places by March 2003, together with 400 places at Birmingham prison, which are funded by the 2000 spending review and are scheduled to open in April 2004.
Prison Service plans to build two new private prisons at Ashford (near Heathrow) and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire have recently been approved. These two new prisons will together provide around 1,300 places by 2004–05.

§ Mrs. Brooke
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of prisoners in UK prisons under 35-years-old have served time in young offenders institutions. [82825]

§ Hilary Benn
No information is collected centrally on which establishments prisoners have served previous sentences in. Information relating to prisoners in Scotland and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Scottish Executive (Helen Liddell) and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Dr. John Reid) respectively.

§ Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what differences there are in securing(a) town visits, (b) home leave and (c) early release under the tagging system between Scottish and English domicile prisoners held in prisons in England; [83578]
(2) what differences in status and rights there are between Scottish domicile and foreign national prisoners held in prisons in England. [83579]

§ Hilary Benn
[holding answer 26 November 2002]All convicted prisoners located in prisons in England and Wales, irrespective of where they are domiciled, have the same status and rights under the Prison Act 1952. The Prison Service does not separately define prisoners domiciled in Scotland.
429W
Prisoners detained in England and Wales who have close family ties with Scotland may apply to serve their sentences there, in accordance with the provisions of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997. Foreign national prisoners may apply to serve their sentences in their country of nationality, providing there is an international agreement in force between the United Kingdom and the country concerned.
There are a number of forms of temporary release available to prisoners at different stages of the sentence. The rules do not differentiate between prisoners domiciled in Scotland and those domiciled in England. However, some forms of temporary release are for the purpose of allowing prisoners to visit their homes during the day in order to begin their resettlement. It may not be practical, therefore, for prisoners domiciled some distance away from their prison to benefit from this type of release. Other forms of temporary release, which include an overnight stay, can be taken in Scotland.
Prisoners sentenced in England and Wales cannot be given Home Detention Curfew (tagging) to an address in Scotland.