Remands in Custody (Hansard, 15 July 1964)

§ Mr. Noble

Yes. I regret that, as a result of further inquiries, I find that the figures given on 29th January to the hon. Members for Motherwell (Mr. Lawson) and Glasgow, Woodside (Mr. Carmichael)

—	1962	1963
Men	Women	Total	Men	Women	Total
Total number of persons admitted awaiting trial and/or sentence	11,105	668	11,773	11,012	676	11,688
Convicted and readmitted under sentence	3,427	77	3,504	4,097	168	4,265
Convicted and otherwise disposed of (including persons given absolute discharge or placed on probation)	4,721	370	5,091	5,507	378	5,885
Acquitted (not guilty and not proven)	366	20	386	466	28	494
Proceedings dropped by prosecutor (including cases in which the accused had been admitted to hospital on account of mental disorder)	441	71	512	646	92	738
Disposal not known at time of return	2,150	130	2,280	296	10	306

In addition, 66 recalled borstal inmates, etc., 25 military deserters awaiting escort, and 15 aliens awaiting deportation were admitted to Scottish prisons during 1962; in 1963 the numbers admitted in these categories were 51, 10, and 5. The average periods spent in prison by all the persons referred to above were 11 days in 1962 and 12 days in 1963.

As regards the investigation of sample figures for two months in 1963, as I said in reply to the hon. Member's Question on 17th June, a report will be published in the Prisons Report for 1963. In anticipation

246W

were incorrect. A number of persons the outcome of whose cases was not known at the time the relevant returns were made to the Department were omitted. The figures given for persons found not guilty included all persons admitted to prison otherwise than under sentence—with the exceptions noted above—who were not, at the time of the return, the subject of a conviction by a court in Scotland. Thus they included persons, e.g. military deserters and recalled borstal inmates, etc., awaiting escort and aliens detained awaiting deportation who were not the subject of a prosecution in the Scottish courts, and did not distinguish between those who were acquitted by the courts, those given an absolute discharge, persons against whom proceedings were dropped by the public prosecutor (including cases in which the accused had been admitted to hospital on grounds of mental disorder) and cases in which the accused's final disposal was not yet known.

The corrected figures for 1962 together with the corresponding figures for 1963, are given in the following table:

of publication, I have now placed copies of the report of the investigation in the Library and the Vote Office.