§ Mr. Whitakerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in co-ordination with the local authorities concerned, he will draw up a longterm plan for selling the sites of obsolete urban prisons to finance the construction of modern penal establishments on less valuable sites.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsI am in touch with the appropriate local authority associations on this general issue, and I shall consult the individual local authorities concerned as soon as it is possible to 523W formulate proposals for particular prisons. But for some years to come the weight of our effort must regrettably go to relieving the present serious overcrowding by building additional rather than replacement prisons.
§ Mr. Whitakerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisons at present use group therapy; and whether he will encourage such techniques by professional courses for prison staff.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsGroup therapy is used in appropriate cases by the prison medical officers and visiting psychotherapists who provide formal psychiatric treatment in 27 prison service establishments in England and Wales. Group counselling by specially trained prison staff is in use in 12 establishments.
Prison medical officers are encouraged to acquire psychiatric qualifications. Training is arranged for group counsellors at the Prison Service Staff College and in their own establishments.
§ Mr. Whitakerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a list of prisons which are over 50 years old, together with their date of construction, for how many prisoners they were built, and their present number of prisoners.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsThe available information in respect of prisons in England and Wales is given in the table below. The number of prisoners for which each prison was built is not known, but the daily average population at the turn of the century is given.
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Prisons over 50 years old Date of construction Daily average population for year ending 31s March 1901 Number of inmates on 30th September 1967 Aylesbury 1845 124 182 Bedford c. 1848 101 219 Birmingham c. 1845 492 892 Bristol 1883 182 516 Brixton c. 1853 380* 819 Camp Hill 1912 78† 332 Canterbury 1852‡ 170 325 Cardiff c. 1830 188 379 Chelmsford c. 1812 230 423 Dartmoor c. 1800 946 551 Dorchester 1879‡ 82 185 Durham c. 1881 446 925
Prisons over 50 years old Date of construction Daily average population for year ending 31st March 1901 Number of inmates on 30th September 1967 Exeter c. 1853 174 341 Gloucester c. 1840 64 231 Holloway 1853 755 333 Hull 1869 242 238 Lancaster c. 1800‡ 80 249 Leeds c. 1840 427 966 Leicester c. 1850 133 307 Lewes c. 1855 266 300 Lincoln 1869 138 410 Liverpool 1854 1,103 1,319 Maidstone c. 1817 220 501 Manchester 1868 1,016 1,398 Northallerton c. 1850‡ 110 128 Norwich 1892 85 243 Nottingham c. 1890 127 235 Oxford 1858 91 270 Parkhurst c. 1804 703 505 Pentonville 1842 1,059 1,336 Preston c. 1820 391 640 Shepton Mallet 1902‡ 65 122 Shrewsbury 1885‡ 78 189 Stafford c. 1845‡ 514 793 Swansea 1859 92 258 Wakefield 1847‡ 627 706 Wandsworth c. 1849 1,069 1,397 Winchester 1855 348 452 Wormwood Scrubs 1874–1891 1,272 1,485 Notes * Figure for year ended 31st March, 1904—the first complete year's occupation after renovation. † Figure for year ended 31st March, 1913. ‡ Some buildings are older. In many of the prisons, alterations and additions have been made since the original date of construction.