§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many prisoners in Scottish prisons have served more than 12 years of their current sentence.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe subject of the question relates to matters undertaken by the Scottish prison Service. I have asked its chief executive, Mr. E.W. Frizzell, to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from E. W. Frizzell to Mr. Tony Worthington, dated 1 December 1994:
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton has asked me to reply to your Question about the number of prisoners who have served more than 12 years of their current sentence.There are currently 131 life sentence prisoners who have spent 12 years or more in custody. This information is not collected centrally in respect of determinate prisoners. However, with the introduction of the Scottish Prison Information Network (SPIN) next year, this type of information will be available.