§ 41. Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of prisoners do creative work while in custody; what is the average number of hours worked each day; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdProvision for creative work by prisoners is made in prison education programmes. Adult prisoners join voluntarily in these programmes, usually outside daytime hours, and between two and four evening hours a week. The prison department holds no central record of the number of prisoners who participate, but in the academic year 1981–82 406,575 prisoner student hours were devoted to art and craft out of a total 2,088,492 devoted to educational work more generally. My right hon. and learned Friend has no statement to make on this matter in advance of the Government's reply to the report on prison education of the Select Committee on Education, Science and the Arts published in April 1983 (HC 45–1)