§ Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes have been made during the last three years in the principles applied by the Preventive Detention Advisory Board and the method of their administration to prisoners under preventive detention in Her Majesty's prisons; how many such prisoners there are now in Her Majesty's prisons; and how many such prisoners during the last ten years, have had the respective balances of their sentences remitted, and to what extent, in duration of the respective sentences and in the respective number of years remitted.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerA prisoner serving a sentence of preventive detention may qualify for release after serving two-thirds of his sentence if he is admitted to third stage, and after serving five-sixths of his sentence if he remains in second stage. The criteria by which Preventive Detention Advisory Boards decide whether to admit a prisoner to third stage are laid down in the Prison Rules and have remained unchanged since the present system of preventive detention was introduced in 1949. On 14th January, 1958, there were 1,326 prisoners serving a sentence of preventive detention. I regret that the rest of the information sought 101W is not available in the form requested, but the hon. Member may like to know that out of 446 prisoners discharged in the period from 1952 to 1956 inclusive 84 had been admitted to third stage.