§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements have been made by the Prison Service to accommodate expected peaks in the prison population over the next 12 months. [3085]
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§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. John Battle, dated 4 December 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about what arrangements have been made to accommodate expected peaks in the prison population over the next twelve months.In dealing with a rising population, our first priority is to ensure that existing accommodation is fully utilised. To meet expected peaks in the population, arrangements have been made to identify accommodation which would normally hold one prisoner but is suitable for holding two for a short period of time; and to bring forward, where practicable, the opening of new accommodation. Around 2,700 additional prisoner places are expected to become available for use over the next twelve months.
§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of increasing the density of accommodation use at local and training prisons. [2993]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. John Battle, dated 4 December 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about what assessment has been made of the impact of increasing the density of accommodation use at local and training prisons.The majority of prisons are not overcrowded. Overcrowding is concentrated principally in some local prisons. This is because of the need to hold unsentenced prisoners close to the courts.The Prison Service recognises that overcrowding has the potential to impact on the delivery of planned regimes and other purposeful activity. In spite of increases in the population, since April 1995 prisoners have on average spent 25.5 hours a week on purposeful activity. This is in line with the target set in the Prison Service Business Plan for 1995–96. The proportion of prisoners unlocked for twelve hours or more on weekdays is currently 38 per cent, which is the target set in the 1995–96 Business Plan.In dealing with a rising population, our first priority is to ensure that existing accommodation is fully utilised. In addition, there is a substantial programme for the building of new accommodation. A new houseblock building programme will provide an additional 2,000 places by 1996–97. Further new accommodation is planned to come into use by 1997–98 with the rebuilding and re-opening of Lowdham Grange prison near Nottingham and the opening of two new privately financed prisons in South Wales and Merseyside.