§ 100. Sir H. Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why the net cost of keeping 19,750 persons in prison and 3,500 in Borstal detention centres averages £316 per annum; and if he will take steps to organise the prison services so that the inmates pay for their own keep instead of costing the taxpayers £7,358,205 per annum.
§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfeThe amount quoted by my hon. Friend is the total net cost of providing and administering prisons, Borstal institutions and detention centres. The items of which it is composed are shown in detail in the printed Estimates. They include the cost not only of keeping the inmates, but of the office of the Prison Commissioners, the provision and maintenance of buildings, the staffs of the establishments, the provision of religious, medical, educational and other services, and in general of the84W fulfilment of all the obligations which Parliament has laid on the Prison Commissioners by the Prison Acts and the statutory Prison and Borstal rules. This total cost is considerably reduced by the profitable use of the work of the inmates, but in no circumstances could the system become self-supporting.
§ 101. Sir H. Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why the expenses in connection with the provision of attendance centres under Section 48 (2) of the Criminal Justice Act, 1948, rose from £4,000 in 1951–52 to £10,000 in 1952–53.
§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfeBecause this is an expanding service and the Estimates provided for an increase from seven to 23 centres in the present financial year.