HC Deb 04 May 1990 vol 171 c681W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were in(a) long-term (b) short-term and (c) remand prisons, respectively, in May 1979; how many prisoners are held in each prison at present; and what changes in capacity for each category of prison have taken place since May 1979.

Mr. Mellor

The information is not available in the form requested. Prison service establishments are generally categorised according to whether they hold young offenders or adults, sentenced or unsentenced, or a mixture of these. Long and short-sentenced prisoners are, in many cases, held in the same establishment.

Comparative information of population and certified normal accommodation (CNA) broken down by types of establishment is as follows:

31 May 1979 March 1990
Pop CNA Pop1 CNA2
Local prisons3 and remand centres (male) 19,290 13,578 19,898 14,421
Training prisons4 (male) 14,462 15,360 19,874 20,933
Young offender institutions5 (male) 7,160 7,696 5,889 6,976
Female establishments6 1,457 1,256 1,643 1,823
Total 42,369 37,890 47,304 44,153
1 Population figures for Friday 30 March 1990.
2 CNA figures for Sunday 11 March 1990.
3 Holds sentenced and unsentenced adults and young offenders.
4 Holds sentenced adults.
5 Holds sentenced young offenders.
6 All types of establishment.