§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why those given custodial sentences are given a different prison number each time they start a new sentence and whether they will consider using criminal record numbers for prison record purposes.
§ Baroness BlatchResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Lord Marlesford from the Director General of the Prison Service, Mr. Richard Tilt, dated 11th July 1996.
Lady Blatch has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the numbering given to prisoners when they are given custodial sentences.
Prisoners are not automatically given fresh prison numbers when they receive new sentences. A fresh number is normally issued where a person is received into custody for a period that is wholly unrelated to previous periods of imprisonment. A sentenced prisoner receiving a further sentence or one who has been recalled to prison after release on licence would normally retain the same number.
Everyone received into prison has immediately to be given a unique identification number, irrespective of their status as an unconvicted, convicted or civil prisoner. Not all prisoners committed to prison have been charged or convicted of criminal offences and so do not have criminal record numbers. As no externally generated number can be guaranteed to be available for use at the point of first arrival, each establishment holds a set of prison numbers to allocate to prisoners on first reception.