HC Deb 25 June 1991 vol 193 cc418-9W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many young people are now imprisoned in Cardiff and Swansea prisons because no other appropriate accommodation is available to them; and how many young people are in prisons elsewhere in England and Wales for the same reason.

Mrs. Rumbold

On Friday 21 June, there were 61 males under the age of 21 at Swansea prison and 87 at Cardiff prison in remand centres which are separate from adult accommodation. Due to industrial action by prison officers at Cardiff, a further 45 young men were held in police cells in Gwent, South Wales and Avon and Somerset forces.

On the same date, throughout England and Wales a total of 3,245 young men under the age of 21 who were remanded for further appearances or sentence by the courts were held in prison service establishments, of whom 1,188 were in local prisons.

Young female prisoners are not held in separate establishments and on 21 June there were a total of 108 young women in custody in prison service establishments in England and Wales.

Information on young persons in prison custody in other parts of the United Kingdom is a matter for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Northern Ireland.