§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the average length of time spent in police cells by remand prisoners within the Merseyside police authority area; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will list the number of remand prisoners held in police cells within the Merseyside police authority area for each of the last three years; what is the total number of transfers between police stations of such remand prisoners for each of those years; and if he will make a statement;
(3) if he will list the total number of prisoners held in police cells within the Merseyside police authority area for each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation about the length of time individual remand prisoners are held in police cells and the transfer of those prisoners between police stations is not collected centrally. Data on the number of prisoners held by the Merseyside police were available centrally only from October 1990 and the table shows the' total number of prisoners held on the last Friday of each month since then. The information does not enable remand prisoners to be distinguished from sentenced prisoners, but most would have been held on remand.
Date Number of prisoners 25 October 1990 56 21 November 1990 61 21 December 1990 34 25 January 1991 53 22 February 1991 59 28 March 1991 39 26 April 1991 49 31 May 1991 36 28 June 1991 25 26 July 1991 43 30 August 1991 49 27 September 1991 79 25 October 1991 70 29 November 1991 75 20 December 1991 72 31 January 1992 74 28 February 1992 89 27 March 1992 97 24 April 1992 85 29 May 1992 63
§ Mr. O'HaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received332W about the number of remand prisoners held in police cells; how many such prisoners are currently being held in the police cells of the Merseyside police authority; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydI have received a number of representations about the use of police cells to hold both remand and newly sentenced prisoners in Merseyside and elsewhere. On Wednesday 10 June, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 76 prisoners in police cells in Merseyside, of whom nine were convicted and 67 unconvicted. As I have made clear on a number of occasions, I regard the resolution of this problem as a matter of priority for the Prison Service, but I have no control over the number of people remanded in or sentenced to custody.
§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will outline the steps he is taking to ensure that remand prisoners being held in police cells are provided with(a) adequate exercise, (b) educational facilities, (c) visiting facilities, (d) regular contact with legal representatives and (e) segregation from convicted prisoners.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe facilities available to prisoners, and the conditions under which they are held in police cell accommodation are matters for the chief officer of the force concerned. The prison service provides for each force an experienced liaison prison governor to give advice to the police on the regulations and conditions which apply in prisons so that these can be reflected in the management of prisoners in police cells.
It is inevitable, given the size and complexity of the present operation, that facilities and conditions will vary from place to place. Police cells are not designed to hold prisoners for long periods, but I have been impressed by the efforts made by police officers to adapt practices and local conditions to suit the needs of prisoners.