§ Baroness Hilton of Eggardonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many extra days' detention were imposed on prisoners failing mandatory drugs tests in 1997–98 and 1998–99; and what was the total cost of imposing these extra days. [HL1918]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonThe table shows the total number of recorded offences of unauthorised use of a controlled drug proven at adjudication and punished under Prison Rules with the award of additional days, an estimate of the number of such punishments actually served, and an estimate of the cost of those days, for each year between 1997 and 1999.
1997 1998 1999 Number of recorded offences of "unauthorised use of a controlled drug" punished with the award of additional days 14,470 14,722 12,764 Estimate of the number of such punishments actually served 9,764 9,617 8,472 Estimate of the cost of imposing award of additional days to the nearest £ thousand (Annual cost per prison place: 1997–98: £23,940 1998–99: £25,096 and 1999–00: £25,567)1 £8.966m £9.257m £8.208m 1 Cost of each additional day awarded is calculated by multiplying the estimated number of awards of additional days served by the average number of days (14) awarded to give the total number of additional days awarded each year. This figure is then multiplied by the daily cost of a prison place in each financial year (taken from the annual cost per prison place, divided by 365 days). Annual cost per prison place for 1999–00 is provisional.