HC Deb 07 May 1991 vol 190 c379W
Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list by police stations in South Yorkshire how many(a) males and (b) females were held in police cells for the latest date he has available; and if he will show in his answer for each police station the longest length of stay a prisoner in each category has been held;

(2) what is the longest period (a) a male and (b) a female has been held in a police cell in South Yorkshire due to shortage of prison space following the Strangeways prison riot.

Mr. Kenneth Baker

On Thursday 2 May a total of 24 prisoners were held in police cells in the South Yorkshire police area. All were male and all were held at Doncaster police station. No female prisoners have been held in South Yorkshire police cells as a consequence of the prison disturbances in April 1990. Information about the length of time which individual prisoners have spent in police cells is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.