§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give details of the regulations concerning the imprisonment on remand in adult prisons of juvenile detainees.
§ Mr. MellorThe provisions which govern the detention in prison custody of unconvicted and convicted unsentenced juveniles are sections 23 and 34 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969, section 69 of the Children Act 1975, section 37 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980, the Certificates of Unruly Character (Conditions) Order 1977 (Statutory Instrument 1977/1037) and the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 (Transitional Modifications of Part I) Orders 1979 and 747W 1981 (Statutory Instruments 1979/125 and 1981/81). By virtue of section 37 of the 1980 Act, when a magistrates court commits in custody to the Crown court for sentence a young offender aged 15 or 16, the committal may be only to a remand centre or prison. By virtue of the other provisions quoted, the only other unsentenced young persons who may be committed in custody to a remand centre or prison are boys aged 15 or 16 whom a criminal court has certified to be of so unruly a character that they cannot safely be committed to the care of a local authority.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many juveniles are held on remand at each adult prison in the United Kingdom at the latest available date.
§ Mr. MellorThe available information is given in the table:
Untried and convicted unsentenced males1 aged under 17 held in adult prisons2 in England and Wales on 30 April 1990: by establishment Establishment Number Bristol 3 Hull 12 Leeds 1 Manchester 2 Pentonville 2 Shrewsbury 1 Winchester 1 All adult prisons 22 1 No unsentenced juvenile girls were held on 30 April 1990. 2 A further 62 were held in remand centres taking only prisoners aged under 21.
Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many youngsters aged 16 years or under have committed suicide while in custody in each of the last 20 years; at which institutions; and what was the age of each.
§ Mr. Mellor[holding answer 19 July 1990]: In the last 20 years six inmates aged 16 or under have died at their own hand while in prison custody. The details are as follows:
Year Establishment Age Verdict recorded at Coroner's inquest 1971 Cardiff 15 Suicide 1976 Pucklechurch 15 Suicide 1978 Hindley 16 Suicide 1981 Rochester 16 Suicide 1983 Manchester 16 Suicide 1990 Swansea 15 Not yet held
Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders aged under 17 years are in Her Majesty's prisons at present.
§ Mr. Mellor[holding answer 19 July 1990]: According to the records held centrally, on 30 April 1990, the latest date for which information is readily available, 65 untried, 19 convicted unsentenced and 21 sentenced juveniles were held in prisons and remand centres in England and Wales. Of these 44 untried and 18 convicted unsentenced juveniles were held in remand centres for young offenders.