§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give a breakdown of the estimated 100 persons on remand and who are in prison awaiting trial for more than 12 months referred to in his answer of 1 April, Official Report, c. 155; whether he will give a summary of the charges being made aginst them; and whether any of them were involved in or are charged with throwing petrol bombs and taking part in the various riots of more than 12 months ago.
§ Mr. MayhewInformation on the offence with which remand prisoners are charged is not collected centrally and could be made available only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West, Official Report, 18 March, c. 174, what are the circumstances in which he would envisage directing the release of unsentenced prisoners under the Imprisonment (Temporary Provisions) Act 1980.
§ Mr. MayhewIt is not possible to predict the circumstances in which my right hon. Friend would ask Parliament to bring into force any of the powers conferred upon him by the Imprisonment (Temporary Provisions) Act 1980.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give an estimate of the costs to public funds of keeping in prison the estimated 5,000 people unconvicted awaiting trial for periods of between one month and over 12 months.
§ Mr. MayhewNo separate figure for the cost of keeping unconvicted prisoners is available, but they are in local prisons or remand centres, where the average cost per prisoner per week was £122 in the financial year 1979–80.