§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prisoners in Northern Ireland prisons are serving a life sentence for(a) murder and (b) other crimes; and of these how many are admitted members of (1) the Ulster Defence Association, (2) the Ulster Freedom Fighters, (3) the Ulster Volunteer Force, (4) the Red Hand Commando, (5) other Protestant paramilitary groups, (6) the Official Irish Republican Army, (7) the Provisional Irish Republican Army, (8) the Irish National Liberation Army, (9) other Roman Catholic paramilitary groups and (10) none of these, or as much of such information as is available to him.
§ Mr. CopeA total of 379 prisoners are serving life sentences in Northern Ireland; of these, 350 were convicted for murder and 29 for other very serious crimes. It is not possible to list the current paramilitary affiliation of these prisoners but at the time of conviction it was as follows:
Numbers UDA 64 UFF 5 UVF 107 RHC 1 Other Loyalist 14 OIRA Nil PIRA 136 INLA 15 Other Republican Nil None 37
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the total number of life sentences received for crimes committed in Northern Ireland since 1974; and what was the average length of imprisonment served.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 20 February 1990]: The information is not available in the form requested. However, between 1974 and 1989, a total of 467 individuals were sentenced to life imprisonment (which were not subsequently quashed on appeal) by the courts in 775W Northern Ireland. Of these, 63 had been released on licence at 31 December 1989 after serving an average of 13 years and eight months in prison.