HL Deb 23 May 2000 vol 613 cc74-5WA
Lord Mayhew of Twysden

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the record in recent years of H M Prison Blantyre House by reference to the proportion of its inmates who have been reconvicted within two years of their discharge or to any other stand and measure of recidivism; and comparing that record with other establishments of the same category in England and Wales. [HL2464]

Lord Bassam of Brighton

Recent two-year reconviction rates for Blantyre House, all closed category C establishments and all prisons are shown in the table. The reconviction rates are produced by analysing a stratified random sample of discharges from all prisons during a given year. The numbers in the samples who were discharged from Blantyre House are small but the rates are consistently over 35 percentage points lower than the national rates.

There is a selection criterion for prisoners of Blantyre House. This criterion means that the

Table: Two-year reconviction rates
Blantyre House Closed category C establishments All establishments, England and Wales
Year Rate % Sample size Rate % Sample size Rate % Sample size
1995 20 12 56 6,756 58 27,390
1994 0 17 52 6,318 56 24,002
1993 7 27 49 5,908 53 20,735
1992 5 16 47 5,456 51 19,505
1991 8 33 47 5,419 53 21,113
1990 6 28 46 4,885 52 19,034
1989 8 19 45 4,369 53 18,945