HL Deb 13 January 1997 vol 577 cc17-8WA
Lord Harris of Greenwich

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the population of each local prison in England and Wales on 10th December 1996, what was the Certified Normal Accommodation of each prison, and what was the percentage of overcrowding.

Baroness Blatch:

Responsibility 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 Harris of Greenwich from the Director of Security and Programmes of the Prison Service, Mr. A. J. Pearson.

Lady Blatch has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the population of each local prison in England and Wales on 10th December 1996, and the certified normal accommodation of local prisons and the percentage of overcrowding.

Many local prisons perform more than one role. Apart from holding adult remand prisoners, they may also hold under 21 year-old remand prisoners and sentenced prisoners.

The attached table lists all prisons which perform a local prison function and includes prisoners and accommodation which may be used for other functions.

The Use CNA represents the total number of uncrowded places available in local prisons. The percentage of prisoners overcrowded represents the number of prisoners above the In Use CNA. These figures do not allow for the operational capacity of a prison, which is the number of prisoners it may hold without serious risk to good order, security and the proper running of regimes, and which allows for overcrowding.

Prison Population CNA % Overcrowding
Bedford 370 317 16.72
Belmarsh 878 826 6.30
Birmingham 978 693 41.13
Blakenhurst 736 647 13.76
Bristol 582 485 20.00
Brixton 613 480 27.71
Bullingdon 676 644 5.00
Canterbury 270 184 46.74
Cardiff 716 534 34.10
Chelmsford 476 446 6.73
Doncaster 960 771 24.51
Dorchester 232 147 57.82
Durham 940 632 48.73
Elmley 679 640 6.09
Exeter 460 260 76.92
Gloucester 260 211 23.22
Haslar 143 158 −9.49
Highdown 689 649 6.16
Holme House 737 764 −3.53
Hull 481 395 21.77
Leeds 910 872 4.36
Leicester 341 207 64.73
Lewes 316 303 4.30
Lincoln 650 434 49.77
Liverpool 1,239 1,105 12.13
Manchester 1,155 967 19.44
Norwich 662 511 29.55
Pentonville 885 726 21.90
Preston 456 256 78.13
Rochester 402 424 −5.19
Shrewsbury 324 176 84.09
Swansea 352 250 40.80
Wandsworth 875 804 8.83
Winchester 601 446 34.75
Wolds 353 320 10.31
Woodhill 654 669 −2.23
Wormwood
Scrubs 1,117 955 16.96