Prisoners

HC Deb 17 May 2004 vol 421 cc784-5W

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners who had been sentenced for more than 10 years were(a) in Category C conditions and (b) in open conditions on (i) 31 March and (ii) 31 March in each of the last five years. [168027]

Paul Goggins

The number of prisoners sentenced to 10 years or more, including life sentence prisoners, that were in(a) Category C conditions and (b) open conditions on 31 March 2004 and 31 March in each of the previous four years is given in the table. Information for 31 March 1999 is not available and hence data has instead been provided for 30 June 1999.

Prisoners sentenced to 10 years or more
	Category C conditions	Open conditions
2004	2,879	747
2003	1,660	668
2002	1,890	641
2001	1,748	574
2000	1,472	565
1999	1,515	511

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are projected to be given a custodial sentence in each of the next 12 months. [168030]

Paul Goggins

The number of offenders sentenced to custody each month is not one of the totals contained within the prison population projections. Projections of the prison population under various sentencing scenarios, and the details of these scenarios, are published in the monthly Prison Population Brief.

Mr. Maude

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of prisoners were reconvicted of subsequent offences having served a sentence(a) under 12 months, (b) 12 months to under four years and (c) four years or over in each of the last 10 years. [169091]

Paul Goggins

Figures for the number and percentage of prisoners reconvicted within two years of discharge from prison are given in Prison Statistics, England and Wales, 1997–2002. Table 9.3 shows reconviction rates for samples of discharged prisoners in that year. To make a full comparison of reconviction rates over time it is necessary to control for changes in the characteristics of discharged prisoners, such as age and previous criminal history, which are strongly associated with reconviction rates.