§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the effect of 363W the provisions of the Crime and Disorder Bill [Lords] on the projected prison population statistics; and if he will make a statement. [40022]
§ Ms QuinThe Crime and Disorder Bill aims to reduce crime and disorder and to speed up justice. It provides for demanding new community penalties for young offenders and for drug-misusing offenders. As such, its overall effect should be to reduce the need for imprisonment. However, the legislation's impact on the prison population will largely depend on the independent sentencing decisions of the courts.
The Home Detention Curfew provisions will have a direct impact on the prison population.
If around half of the eligible prisoners are assessed as suitable this would result in around 4,000 prisoners being released under Home Detention Curfew at any one time and produce a reduction of around 3,000 in the estimated number of prison places required by the Prison Service.