HC Deb 16 July 1986 vol 101 cc509-10W
Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people left custody (a) after serving sentences and (b) after being held in custody before trial or sentence in the most recent convenient year.

Mr. Mellor

It is estimated from central records, which are approximate, that about 94,500 sentenced prisoners, including fine defaulters, were released from prison department establishments in England and Wales in 1985. The corresponding figure for discharges of remand prisoners is not available. However, the information published annually in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales" on receptions gives an approximate indication of the numbers discharged. Table 2.2 of the latest issue for 1984 — Cmnd. 9622—shows about 29,500 persons—provisional figures—received on remand in 1984 who were not recorded as having subsequently been received under sentence.