§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff there are on night duty in each prison holding juveniles; and what the staff to prisoner ratio is in such prisons on night shifts. [137723]
§ Mr. BoatengThe table shows the night staffing figures for those establishments holding juveniles with the corresponding staff-to-prisoner ratio.
Establishment Number of staff Staff to prisoner ratio Ashfield 26 1:15 Brinsford 6 1:36 Castington 13 1:37 Feltham 24 1:6.5 Hollesley Bay: Carlford Unit 1 1:30 Warren Hill 3 1:61.6 Huntercombe 8 1:40 Lancaster Farms 13 1:38.3 Onley 5 1:43 Portland 19 1:30 Stoke Heath 5 1:58.7 Thorn Cross 9 1:30 Werrington 6 1:17.6 Wetherby 8 1:45 Female establishments holding under 18's Brockhill 6 1:27 Bullwood Hall 7 1:26 Brake Hall 8 1:33 Holloway 28 1:19 Low Newton 7 1:30 New Hall 10 1:32 Styal 16 1:26
Table 2: Ethnic composition of prisoners in juvenile establishments as at 30 September 2000 Percentage of Ethnic group2 Establishment Population1 White Black South Asian3 Chinese and Other4 Not known Juvenile establishments 5,243 80.2 12.9 2.8 4.0 0.1 Ashfield 362 85.6 10.6 0.5 3.3 0.0 Brinsford 460 74.7 18.4 3.5 3.2 0.3 Castington 247 98.8 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.0 Feltham 724 48.8 37.8 4.8 8.5 0.1 Hollesley Bay 334 74.1 17.3 3.6 5.1 0.0 Huntercombe 352 56.9 35.1 4.5 3.4 0.0 Lancaster Farms 494 92.7 4.7 1.4 1.2 0.0 Onley 593 72.0 21.4 4.1 2.5 0.0 Portland 501 76.9 17.1 3.8 2.2 0.0 Stoke Heath 562 92.8 5.0 0.7 1.5 0.0 Thorn Cross 237 86.9 2.8 4.8 5.6 0.0 Werrington 104 90.4 6.7 1.9 1.0 0.0 Wetherby 273 88.0 5.5 2.9 3.6 0.0 1 F1032 population returns 2 Estimated from Inmate Information System (IIS) data 3 Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani 4 Includes Other Asian 5= 100 per cent.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mothers and babies were transported from one prison to another in(a) 1998 and (b) 1999. [137810]
694W
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the jurisdiction of HM Inspectorate of Prisons, Probations and the Prisons Ombudsman extends to Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. [137799]
§ Mr. BoatengThe authority of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Probation and the Prisons Ombudsman covers England and Wales only. However, both the Prisons and Probation Inspectorates have on occasion carried out inspections at the request of the Islands' authorities.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the ethnic composition is of(a) staff and (b) prisoners in each prison which holds juvenile offenders. [137722]
§ Mr. BoatengThe answer is given in the tables.
Table 1: Ethnic composition of staff in juvenile establishments as at 31 October 2000 Percentage of staff who have declared their ethnicity Establishment Total SIP White Asian Black Other ethnicgroups Total 4,252 96.4 1.8 1.5 0.3 Ashfield 267 96.3 0.7 3.0 0.0 Brinsford 372 93.0 3.1 3.6 0.3 Castington 343 99.4 0.0 0.3 0.3 Feltham 633 88.7 7.8 2.4 1.1 Hollesley Bay 326 99.7 0.0 0.0 0.3 Huntercombe 250 96.3 0.8 2.1 0.8 Lancaster Farms 359 99.7 0.0 0.3 0.0 Onley 387 96.9 1.6 1.3 0.2 Portland 319 99.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 Stoke Heath 387 97.2 1.1 1.7 0.0 Thorn Cross 216 99.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 Werrington 154 98.6 0.0 1.4 0.0 Wetherby 239 99.2 0.4 0.4 0.0
§ Mr. BoatengThe figures for the number of mothers and their babies transported from one prison to another in 1998 and 1999 are set out in the table.
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Prisons 1998 1999 Askham Grange 0 0 Holloway 19 21 New Hall 4 6 Styal 7 7
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Prison Service Health Care Department will publish the 1997–98 annual report. [137805]
§ Mr. BoatengThe Prison Service Director of Health Care's Annual Report 1997–98 was published early in 1999. I am arranging for copies of the report to be placed in the Library.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prisoners hanged themselves in 1999; [137801]
(2) what operational lessons have been learned, and what changes have been made, following the deaths in HMP Leicester in December 1999; and if he will make a statement; [137721]
(3) how many prisoners suffered permanent damage as a result of an attempted suicide in 1999; [137802]
(4) what was the elapsed time between estimated time of death and discovery of the body for each prisoner who committed suicide in 1998 and 1999. [137800]
§ Mr. Boateng86 of the 91 self-inflicted deaths in custody in 1999 were by hanging. There is no reliable information about attempted suicides as at present no distinction is made between forms of self-harm. Long term or permanent physical or psychological damage can result from a variety of forms of self-harm, including substance abuse.
There were 173 self-inflicted deaths in 1998 and 1999, and full information about the timing of these deaths in relation to the discovery of the bodies could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Of 40—the first 20 in both years—cases examined, 22 inquest reports contain no record of estimated time of death. Of the remainder, nine deaths are estimated to have occurred between eight minutes and six hours 25 minutes before discovery of the body and nine deaths between 15 minutes and 78 days afterwards.
There have been six self-inflicted deaths in Leicester prison in the last year, including two in December 1999. Internal inquiries are complete in respect of five of the six and have identified no failures of basic procedures or apparent links between the six deaths. Five Coroners' inquests are awaited. Since January 2000, the prison's care suite has been refurbished, is permanently manned and in regular use. Two crisis suites are being introduced. Leicester's good and active Listener scheme has been expanded. Improved accommodation will be provided for new receptions.
696WThe continuing rise in prisoner suicides, particularly in local prisons like Leicester, has prompted a major review of the Prison Service's work on suicide prevention. There will be a focus on local prisons like Leicester because they have high proportions of unconvicted prisoners and large throughputs and disproportionate numbers of their populations at the most risk of suicide or self-harm.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women prisoners applied for a place in a mother and baby unit in(a) 1998 and (b) 1999 during the reception procedure. [137809]
§ Mr. BoatengIt is not the practice in any of the female prisons for a woman to make an application for a place on a mother and baby unit during the reception procedure. The Prison Service Order to Governors on the "Management of Mother and Baby Units and the Application Process" was published in February. This requires all women's prisons, as part of the reception process, to identify all eligible women and provide them with the prisoners' handbook "All About Mother and Baby Units" so that they can apply as soon as possible after the reception process. The order also required all women's prisons to appoint a named liaison officer, to be responsible for ensuring that all women, sentenced or unsentenced, who are pregnant or have a child under 18 months, are identified and informed of the arrangements for applying for a place on a mother and baby unit. All women's prisons now have a named liaison officer.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women have given birth while held in HMP Brockhill in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [137806]
§ Mr. BoatengBrockhill prison we re-roled to a female prison in 1997. Since then, six women have given birth while held in the prison. Five of these were at the Alexandra Hospital, Redditch, and one this year within the prison.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement regarding the young woman who gave birth inside New Hall prison this summer. [137808]
§ Mr. BoatengTo date, three births have taken place within New Hall prison this year. These happened in July, August and October. However, in all three cases, staff were only alerted when labour was at a very advanced stage. Therefore, there was not enough time to transfer the women to hospital.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were committed to prison in(a) 1998 and (b) 1999 for each imprisonable offence. [137712]
§ Mr. BoatengThe information requested is given in the table. This information is also published in successive volumes of "Prison Statistics England and Wales" (Tables 1.16, 3.8 and 4.5 of the 1999 edition Cm 4805) copies of which are in the Library.
697W
Receptions under sentence into prisons in England and Wales by offence, 1998–99 Offence group 1998 1999 All offences1 91,282 93,965 Violence against the person 12,942 12,778 Murder 241 268 Manslaughter 194 164 Other homicide and attempted homicide 895 894 Wounding 6,746 6,678 Assaults 3,371 3,318 Cruelty to children 96 112 Other offences of violence against the person 1,399 1,344 Sexual offences 2,715 2,665 Buggery and indecency between males 114 113 Rape 857 781 Gross indecency with children 492 527 Other sexual offences 1,252 1,244 Burglary 11,570 11,391 Robbery 3,595 3,722 Theft and handling 19,866 21,763 Taking and driving away 3,103 3,050 Other thefts 14,999 16,956 Handling stolen goods 1,764 1,757 Fraud and forgery 3,374 3,296 Fraud 3,124 3,116 Forgery 250 180 Drug offences 7,560 7,810 Other offences 27,274 28,306 Arson 400 416 Criminal damage 1,680 1,653 In charge or driving under the influence of drink or drugs 2,607 2,433 Other motoring offences 11,800 12,202 Drunkenness 534 459 Blackmail 111 111 Kidnapping 182 218 Affray 1,504 1,430 Violent disorder 470 347 Perjury/Libel/Pervert the course of justice 696 699 Threat/disorderly behaviour 1,184 1,228 Breach of Court Order 3,387 4,203 Other 2,719 2,907 Offences not recorded 2,386 2,234 Non-criminal prisoners All offences 3,290 3,271 Committed for non-payment of: Wife maintenance (including wife and child maintenance) 8 8 Child maintenance 14 9 Arrears under an affiliation order 2 1 Rates 13 4 Community charge/council tax 194 101 Other debts 21 10 In contempt of court 588 586 Persons held under the 1971 Immigration Act 2,348 2,443 Others 64 79 Committal type not recorded 38 30 1Excludes non criminal offences