§ Mr. GerrardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the certified normal accommodation will be at Strangeways prison when it becomes fully functional in 1993; and if he will give an undertaking that Strangeways will not be allowed to become overcrowded.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe certified normal accommodation of Manchester prison will be 971 when it becomes fully operational. This level of accommodation may not be reached until June 1994. When the refurbished main prison is opened in September 1993, the old remand centre which is currently the only accommodation in use could be closed. This will be in order to refurbish K wing and to carry out security improvements.
The prison service will aim to avoid the population exceeding 971 by arranging for sentenced prisoners to be transferred to serve their sentence in training prisons. But if it becomes essential to do so—for example, in order to avoid the use of police cells—the population of the prison could rise to 1,150.