§ Mr. Berminghamasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the certified normal accommodation in Lincoln prison;
(2) what is the current population of Lincoln prison.
§ Mr. Mellor:On 21 June, the certified normal accommodation of Lincoln was 345 and the population was 637.
§ Mr. Berminghamasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to relieve the overcrowding at Lincoln prison.
§ Mr. MellorThe reopening of Morton hall has already provided some relief. Next month a new category C training prison will open at Stocken in Leicestershire; this will allow some newly sentenced men at Lincoln to be allocated a training place more quickly.
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average length of time that remand prisoners are held in Her Majesty's prison, Holloway.
§ Mr. MellorInformation on the average time spent on remand in individual establishments is not recorded centrally and could be calculated only at disproportionate cost. The latest available information about the average time spent in custody by all untried and by all convicted but unsentenced female prisoners is published annually in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales" (Table 2(g) of the latest volume—1983, Cmnd. 9363).
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the total availability of education time for the prisoners at Her Majesty's prison, Holloway, over the past four years.
§ Mr. MellorThe available information for the period 1 January 1984 to 21 June 1985 is as follows:
Teaching Hours Planned Withdrawn Daytime Evening Daytime Evening Holloway 13,544 2,958 6,072 2,093 Interruptions to the planned programmes were caused primarily by shortages of prison officers for supervisory duties. Information for earlier periods is not readily available.
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the average amount of time spent by officers at Her Majesty's prison, Holloway, on escort duties over the past four years.
§ Mr. MellorThe information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. But a special examination of escort duty commitments at Holloway prison revealed that, for the quarter ended 30 September 1984, the average number of hours per officer per week spent on escort duties was just under 10.
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the average amount of association time for prisoners at Her Majesty's prison, Holloway, during each month of the last four years.
§ Mr. MellorThe information requested is not available.
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§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what have been the total number of medical staff employed at Her Majesty's prison, Holloway (a) in the current year and (b) for each of the past four years.
§ Mr. MellorThe medical staff employed at Her Majesty's prison, Holloway was as follows:
1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 Doctors 4 4 4 4 4 Nursing staff 65 67 66 65 66 In addition, a substantial number of specialists visit on a regular basis usually for two or more sessions a week at present. Details are not available for these arrangements in previous years.
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the average number of staff, of all grades, at Her Majesty's prison, Holloway, for each year since 1978 and the average number of prisoners there for each year over the same period.
§ Mr. MellorThe figures requested are as follows:
Year ended Average number of staff in post Average inmate population 31 December 1978 346 359 31 December 1979 350 363 31 December 1980 364 355 31 December 1981 372 331 31 December 1982 436 315 31 December 1983 448 332 31 December 1984 467 335 1 January 1985 to 31 May 1985 488 337