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Imprisonment Statistics
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the male population has experienced imprisonment. [10632]
Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Harry Cohen, dated 16 January 1997:
16 Jan 1997 : Column: 366
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the proportion of the male population who experienced imprisonment.
The most recent available information was published in Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Criminal careers of those born between 1953 and 1973" (14/95). A copy of this bulletin has been placed in the Library.
This bulletin gives estimates of the proportion those born in 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968 and 1973 who had been convicted for at least one standard list offence (standard list offences consist of all indictable offences and some of the more serious summary offences--see Appendix 5 of "Criminal statistics, England and Wales, 1995" (Cm. 3421) for further details). Table 4 in this bulletin contains estimates of the cumulative percentage of the population with a custodial sentence for a standard list offence by gender and age.
Before the age of 40 (the highest age for which figures based on complete conviction histories are currently available) it is estimated that just under 7 per cent. of males born in 1953 had been sentenced to custody.
Roisin McAliskey
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the number of strip searches undergone by Miss Roisin McAliskey on her journey from HM prison Holloway to the magistrates court on 13 December. [10638]
Miss Widdecombe [holding answer 13 January 1997]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Hugh Taylor to Mr. Kevin McNamara, dated 16 January 1997:
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of daily strip searches undergone by Miss Roisin McAliskey since her transfer from Northern Ireland to HMPs Belmarsh and Holloway; what were the intervals between each search; what (a) contraband goods and (b) other materials were found on her body; and if such searches included the bodily orifices. [10639]
Miss Widdecombe
[holding answer 13 January 1997]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Hugh Taylor to Mr. Kevin McNamara, dated 16 January 1997:
16 Jan 1997 : Column: 367
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason it is necessary for remand prisoners to be strip searched before receiving closed visits. [10651]
Miss Widdecombe
[holding answer 13 January 1997]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Pearson to Mr. Kevin McNamara, dated 16 January 1997:
Mr. Alex Carlile:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what research has been undertaken by the Prison Service on (a) high intensity regimes and (b) boot camps; when it will be published; and if he will make a statement; [10783]
(3) when the high intensity regime at Colchester will open; and if he will make a statement; [10784]
(4) what are the reasons for the delay in opening the high intensity regime at Colchester; and if he will make a statement. [10786]
Miss Widdecombe
[holding answer 13 January 1997]: Colchester young offender institution and the high intensity training programme at Thorn Cross young offender institution are both pilots. They will be the source of evidence of the effectiveness of the new
16 Jan 1997 : Column: 368
approaches adopted. There are no directly parallel initiatives to provide evidence at present on likely reconviction rates.
In 1994, Prison Service officials prepared a report on American boot camps as advice to Ministers. Following the long established convention this advice was not published, nor will it be. Copies of readily available published research into American boot camps were placed in the Library in 1995. I must stress, however, that our two initiatives are not copies of American boot camps.
We intend the young offenders at Colchester to come predominantly from East Anglia and the south-east of England.
As I explained in the answer which I gave the hon. Member on 14 November, Official Report, column 299, this is a unique initiative requiring careful preliminary work and much progress has already been made. Since then, we have proceeded with the staff appointments to which I referred on that occasion, and I hope shortly that we will agree the final details of the regime. When we have done so we will set an opening date.
Mr. Waterson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for changes in the high security prison estate. [11767]
Miss Widdecombe:
The director general of the Prison Service announced yesterday that the following eight prisons will be released from the high security category A estate:
The high security category A estate will comprise the following 13 prisons:
In addition, Hull prison will be available on occasion to take category A prisoners in its control review committee unit for disruptive prisoners but only until alternative accommodation can be provided elsewhere. There will also be some other occasions when individual category A prisoners will have to be held temporarily outside the category A estate for reasons of operational necessity.
Funding has been made available to complete the upgrading of physical and procedural security at the 13 prisons, in accordance with the recommendations in the Woodcock report. The work will be completed at 11 of the 13 prisons by May 1997, in accordance with the timetable published in February 1995, at Doncaster by September 1997 and at Altcourse when the prison opens in spring 1998.
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about strip searches undergone by Miss Roisin McAliskey on her journey to court on 13 December.
Miss McAliskey was subject to two strip searches in connection with her journey to court. In accordance with normal practice, she was strip searched on her departure for court and again on her arrival back at the prison. Both searches were conducted in the reception area at Holloway.
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about strip searches undergone by Miss Roisin McAliskey.
Miss McAliskey has not been subject to daily strip searches. She has been strip searched whenever she has moved in or out of the prison to court, hospital or transfer. She has also been strip searched before and after every visit. This is the normal practice for a prisoner of her security category. At Belmarsh, Miss McAliskey was strip searched four times in connection with visits and four times in the
course of movements in or out of the prison. Up to 20 December, she had been strip searched 31 times at Holloway, 24 in connection with visits and seven in the course of movements.
No contraband or other items have been found. Her mouth and ears have been searched, but she has not been subject to any internal body searches.
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the strip searching of remand prisoners prior to closed visits.
Governors have discretion under Prison Standing Order 5 to impose closed visits on any prisoner where security or control considerations so require. Under normal circumstances, prisoners who are subject to closed visits are not given a strip search prior to receiving such a visit.
A policy of mandatory closed visits for all exceptional risk category A prisoners held in special secure units (including those held on remand) was introduced in June 1995. Special secure units (SSUs) operate in accordance with national operating standards. The standards state that prisoners in the SSUs at Full Sutton and Whitemoor must be subjected to a rub down search before a closed visit. The standards also state that prisoners in the SSU at Belmarsh must be strip searched before and after all visits.
In the SSUs at Full Sutton and Whitemoor exceptional risk prisoners do not come into contact with prisoners from outside the unit. Prisoners in the Belmarsh SSU are held in the same building as high risk prisoners who are not subject to the restrictions imposed on exceptional risk prisoners. Exceptional risk prisoners at Belmarsh (whether convicted or on remand) are therefore strip searched to ensure that illicit items are not passed between prisoners on the way to or from visits.
(2) from what areas the high intensity regime to be based at Colchester will draw inmates; and if he will make a statement; [10785]
Birmingham, Bullingdon, Elmley, Leeds, Liverpool, Swaleside, Winchester and Wormwood Scrubs.
Belmarsh, Frankland, Full Sutton, Long Lartin, Wakefield, Whitemoor, Altcourse, Bristol, Doncaster, Durham, High Down, Manchester and Woodhill.
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