§ Lord Windleshamasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many inmates currently serving sentences of life imprisonment were sentenced (a) to the mandatory penalty for murder, or (b) at the discretion of court on conviction for other serious crimes. [HL43]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe latest available information is for 30 September 1998. On that date there were 3,223 mandatory and 757 discretionary life sentence prisoners in prisons in England and Wales.
§ Lord Windleshamasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many inmates currently serving sentences of life imprisonment, either at a Prison Service establishment or a special hospital, have served more than 30 years in custody. [HL42]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe available information relates to persons detained in Prison Service establishments whose date of sentence was more than 30 years ago. No information is available centrally regarding persons detained in special hospitals.
Provisional information for 30 September 1998 shows that 50 persons were sentenced to life imprisonment more than 30 years ago. Of these, 12 persons are recorded as being held in continuous custody. It is, however, difficult to identify persons in continuous custody, as detailed movement records for persons sentenced over 30 years ago are not complete. The number should therefore be regarded as an estimate only.
Information on the number of persons in prison by the interval since reception under sentence are published in successive volumes of Prison statistics England and Wales (Table 5.3 of the 1997 edition, Cm 4017), copies of which are in the Library.