§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the total prison population in each of Her Majesty's prisons at the most recent date; what facilities exist at each prison to employ male and female prisoners; and what is the length of time of the normal working day.
§ Mr. MayhewOn 21 July 1981 the population in each of Her Majesty's prison was:
203W
Males Remand Centres Prison Population Ashford 448 Brockhill 282 Cardiff 137 Exeter 73 Glen Parva 290 Latchmere House 132 Low Newton 295 Norwich 70 Pucklechurch 121 Risley 703 Thorp Arch 268 Winchester 102 Prisons Acklinton 211 Albany 288 Ashwell 410 Aylesbury 316 Bedford 356 Birmingham 1,018 Blundeston 413 Bristol 638 Brixton 753 Camp Hill 436 Canterbury 351 Cardiff 432 Castington 75 Channings Wood 286 Chelmsford 380 Coldingley 283 Dartmoor 537 Dorchester 231 Durham 1,006 Erlestoke 125 Exeter 488 Featherstone 483 Ford 528 Gartree 127 Gloucester 335 Grendon 165 Haverigg 522 Highpoint 283 Hull 289 Kinston 133 Kirkham 584 Lancaster 158
Males Remand Centres Prison Population Leeds 1,096 Leicester 400 Lewes 435 Leyhill 317 Lincoln 632 Liverpool 1,541 Long Lartin 391 Maidstone 537 Manchester 1,599 Northallerton 213 Northeye 382 Norwich 541 Nottingham 261 Onley 422 Oxford 291 Parkhurst 239 Pentonville 1,131 Preston 569 Ranby 461 Reading 313 Rochester 81 Rudgate 352 Shepton Mallet 241 Shrewsbury 246 Spring Hill 196 Stafford 769 Standford Hill 514 Sudbury 379 Swansea 296 Swinfen Hall 181 Verne 496 Wakefield 693 Wandsworth 1,528 Winchester 575 Wormwood Scrubs 1,344 Wymott 859 FemalesRemand Centres Prison Population Low Newton 30 Pucklechurch 48 Risley 119 Prisons Askham Grange 94 Cookham Wood 88 Drake Hall 192 Durham 33 East Sutton Park 13 Holloway 331 Moor Court 86 Styal 269 Prisoners are employed in a wide variety of occupations including domestic work in the establishment—cleaning and kitchen duties—building and maintenance work, education, vocational and construction industry training, industrial work in prison workshops and, in some establishments, farming and horticultural work. Detailed information of the kind requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The average length of the working week for all inmates employed in prison workshops for the months of April and May 1981 was 21 hours.
§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of prisoners held in Her Majesty's prisons in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. MayhewThe average daily population in custody in prison department establishments in England and Wales204W during each of the years 1971–79 is shown in table 1.4 of "Prison Statistics, England and Wales"—Cmnd. 7978. The average for 1980, published in table 1 of the report on the work of the Prison Department, 1980—Cmnd. 8228—was 42,109 excluding those held in approved places or in police cells between October and December as a result of the industrial action of prison officers. The corresponding information for prisons and remand centres is given in the following table.
Average daily population of prisons and remand centres in England and Wales 1971–80 Year Number of persons 1971 32,101 1972 31,223 1973 30,090 1974 29,910 1975 32,179 1976 33,719 1977 34,192 1978 34,380 1979 35,032 1980 34,760
§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give further details of his policy towards the financial allocation that will be made to deal with overcrowding; and if he will make a statement on future projections of prison numbers and how he proposes to deal with them.
§ Mr. MayhewThe Government's expenditure plans, announced in March 1981—Cmnd. 8175—provide for 2,600 new or refurbished prison places by 1983–84 and for the continuance of the programme of two new prison starts a year. The Government also welcomes the lead given by the Court of Appeal towards shorter custodial sentences and have sought views on proposals for extending the concept of parole to shorter sentence prisoners.
The most recent projections from past trends of the future prison population, made at the end of 1980, are shown in the following table:
Projections of past trends in the average daily population of Prison Department establishments in England and Wales Year Thousands Populations 1982 45.7 1983 46.9 1984 48.0 1985 48.9 1986 49.9 1987 50.9 1988 51.9 1989 52.8