§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were imprisoned because of default on fines levied by the courts in the last year for which figures are available, and in each of the previous 20 years. [25318]
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this mater has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Alun Michael, dated 22 May 1995:
485WThe Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about how many people were imprisoned because of fine default on fines levied by the courts in the last year for which figures are available, and in each of the previous 20 years.Provisional information shows that 22,400 persons in 1993 and 22,700 persons in 1994 were received into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales for fine default. Information for earlier years is published in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales" (Table 7.1 of the 1992 edition, Cm 2581), an extract of which is attached.
Table 7.3: Receptions into prison in default of payment of a fine: by period and sex, 1974–84 Number of persons Period imposed in default 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 Over 3 months up to and including 6 months 8 12 14 27 9 9 7 10 21 12 4 Over 6 months 1 3 1 3 3 1 2 2 2 2 — Total 508 615 716 856 895 952 962 1,107 1,324 1,321 1,486 Males and females total 12,622 14,417 15,911 16,040 16,442 17,044 15,938 21,153 24,492 23,241 21,761 Source:
Extract from Prison Statistics England and Wales.
Table 7.1: Population, receptions and estimated average time spent in Prison Service establishments: by sex, 1982–92 England and Wales Fine defaulters 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 Population at 30 June All fine defaulters 909 900 792 563 511 626 576 484 466 409 382 Males 871 854 752 540 491 598 549 460 441 397 359 Females 38 46 40 23 20 28 27 24 25 12 23 Total sentenced population 36,000 35,438 35,496 37,344 36,450 39,303 38,548 38,013 35,220 35,114 35,564 Fine defaulters as a percentage of total sentenced population 2.5 2.5 2.2 1.5 1.4 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.1 Population serving sentences of imprisonment of 6 months or less1 5,588 6,006 6,205 6,285 4,787 4,856 3,563 3,744 3,238 3,650 3,621 Fine defaulters as a percentage of population serving sentences of imprisonment of 6 months or less 16.3 15.0 12.8 9.0 10.7 12.9 16.2 12.9 14.4 11.2 10.5 Receptions All fine defaulters 24,492 23,241 21,761 20,493 19,159 18,723 16,817 16,985 16,659 18,973 19,826 Males 23,168 21,920 20,275 19,108 18,084 17,804 15,881 16,117 15,814 17,997 18,782 Females 1,324 1,321 1,486 1,385 1,075 919 936 868 845 976 1,044 All receptions under sentence 94,377 93,414 92,810 96,189 86,153 86,358 81,836 76,430 67,510 72,313 69,832 Fine defaulters as a percentage of all receptions under sentence 26.0 24.9 23.4 21.3 22.2 21.7 20.5 22.2 24.7 26.2 28.4 All receptions under sentence of imprisonment of 6 months or less1 52,195 51,415 50,242 49,287 43,109 41,446 39,391 42,209 36,813 41,245 40,509 Fine defaulters as a percentage of all receptions under sentence of imprisonment of 6 months or less 46.9 45.2 43.3 41.6 44.4 45.2 42.7 40.2 45.3 46.0 48.9 Average time served (days)2 Males 14.1 14.1 12.9 11.3 10.9 10.9 9.9 8.1 7.0 7.5 37.3 Females 11.0 10.1 8.7 8.1 7.9 8.4 7.1 6.0 6.0 6.8 36.8 1 Excludes detention centre trainees; includes youth custody trainees and persons sentenced to detention in a young offender institution. 2 Excluding those remaining in custody as fine defaulters on completion of a custodial sentence for criminal offence. 3 January to June. Source:
Extract from Prison Statistics England and Wales.