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7 Nov 2005 : Column 78W—continued

Prisoner Deaths

Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have died as a result of self-inflicted injuries in prisons operating (a) above certified normal accommodation (CNA) and (b) at or below CNA in each of the past five years. [24052]

Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested is provided in the table.
 
7 Nov 2005 : Column 79W
 

Calendar year	Number of apparent self-inflicted deaths (SIDs)	Number of apparent SIDs that took place in prisons operating over CNA(24)	Number of apparent SIDs that took place in prisons operating below CNA
2000	81	52	29
2001	(25)73	46	26
2002	95	77	18
2003	(25)94	81	12
2004	95	73	22
Total	438	329	107

⁽²⁴⁾ Though the holding prisons were, at the end of the month in which the prisoners died, operating over their respective CNAs, this does not necessarily mean that the prisoners who died were accommodated in 'crowded' conditions—for example, one of two prisoners accommodated in a cell certified for one.
⁽²⁵⁾ One death in 2001 and one death in 2003 occurred in the custody of the Prison Escort and Custody Services.

Prisons

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the extent of drugs being (a) taken into prisons by (i) prisoners, (ii) visitors, (iii) governors, (iv) officers and (v) other staff and (b) thrown over prison walls; and if he will make a statement. [16372]

Fiona Mactaggart: There has been no such assessment. However, a recent internal review was carried out which looked at methods of entry of illegal drugs into prisons with a view to sharing good practice. Recommendations included giving greater priority to the use of intelligence, targeting the use of mobile phones by prisoners, increased intelligence-led searching, and a managed approach to disrupt the activities of prisoners engaged in drug trafficking.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ease overcrowding in prisons. [17921]

Fiona Mactaggart: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) keeps under review the demand on prison places and the capacity of prisons to accommodate those prisoners sent to them by the courts. It is ensuring maximum use of all spare capacity within the prison estate, increasing useable operational capacity in prisons by building additional places as part of an ongoing funded building programme, and returning to use accommodation at existing prisons.
 
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The Government have introduced credible, intensive community sentences, which courts can tailor to individual offenders who might have otherwise received ineffective short prison sentences. We have also alerted courts to the availability of electronic monitoring to support a curfew imposed as a condition of bail. Courts are being encouraged to use this option instead of a remand in custody in appropriate cases.

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken to tackle prison overcrowding; and if he will make a statement. [19663]

Fiona Mactaggart: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) keeps under review the demand on prison places and the capacity of prisons to accommodate those prisoners sent to them by the courts. It is ensuring maximum use of all spare capacity within the prison estate, increasing useable operational capacity in prisons by building additional places as part of an ongoing funded building programme, and returning to use accommodation at existing prisons.

The Government have introduced credible, intensive community sentences, which courts can tailor to individual offenders who might have otherwise received ineffective short prison sentences. We have also alerted courts to the availability of electronic monitoring to support a curfew imposed as a condition of bail. Courts are being encouraged to use this option instead of a remand in custody in appropriate cases.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the implications of the ruling in R. v. Leonard Cheshire Foundation [2002] H.R.L.R.30 on the applicability of the Human Rights Act 1998 to prisons built and operated under contract by non-public authorities. [20735]

Fiona Mactaggart: There are no implications arising from the ruling in R. v. Leonard Cheshire Foundation [2002] H.R.L.R.30 for prisons built and operated under contract by commercial organisations.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average amount of purposeful activity undertaken by a prisoner has been in each prison in England and Wales in each year since 1997. [21842]

Fiona Mactaggart: The average number of weekly purposeful activity hours for each establishment during each of the financial years since 1997–98 is shown in the table.
Average number of weekly purposeful activity hours for each establishment during each of the financial years since 1997–98

Establishment	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Acklington	25.5	23.8	23.8	23.5	23.2	23.6	24.4	24.1
Albany	24	23.8	19.2	23.5	24.2	21.6	22.2	20.9
Altcourse	24.6	20.5	25.5	32.9	34.3	32.7	34.4	37.0
Ashfield	n/a	n/a	24	28.3	27.1	25.7	29.3	30.8
Ashwell	32.6	33.3	30.8	31.1	31.7	29.2	31	30.3
Askham Grange	41.8	42	41.6	41.2	41.1	41	41.4	41.5
Aylesbury	22.6	20.9	18.4	15.7	17.4	17.8	19.1	20.9
Bedford	25.6	22.7	22.9	20.9	19.8	17.7	18.1	19.9
Belmarsh	11.8	13.2	12.8	13.3	11	11.3	14.6	16.2
Birmingham	10.9	13.3	15.2	16	19.3	19.9	18.8	18.1
Blakenhurst	20.1	21.8	22.1	23.3	18.9	19.6	19.1	20.8
Blantyre House	34.2	39.5	43.6	47.6	49	40.7	40.5	43.4
Blundeston	23.2	25.8	24.5	26.2	25.8	23.1	21.9	24.8
Brinsford	15.3	16.3	16.8	21.9	27.5	26.1	28.7	28.7
Bristol	20.1	21.3	20.9	22.6	21.1	21.3	22.3	21.0
Brixton	17.1	15.7	11.1	15.6	16.6	12.7	10.4	15.4
Brockhill	30.7	21.1	18.2	20.8	18.2	16.1	18.1	22.4
Buckley Hall	32.8	26.6	31.7	31.8	30.3	26.8	30.8	31.2
Bullingdon	20.9	21.2	14.4	14.6	13.8	13.7	17.5	18.6
Bullwood Hall	21.6	19	19.6	21.5	27.2	27.9	27.7	27.6
Camp Hill	20.9	19.3	19.9	22	21.4	19.3	19.1	21.3
Canterbury	17.5	18.5	19.9	19.6	18	17.4	21.9	22.0
Cardiff	22	21.3	20.6	23.6	20.4	19.1	21.5	24.3
Castington	23.4	20.7	19.8	24.6	25.1	21.9	22.9	28.2
Channings Wood	29.6	30.5	34.9	33.6	33.5	31.2	28.6	27.3
Chelmsford	16	15.8	16.8	18.2	18.8	15.4	15.8	19.7
Coldingley	38.1	40.7	43.8	40.9	38.2	35.3	34	33.2
Cookham Wood	23.6	22.3	24.4	24.2	22	23	22.5	25.2
Dartmoor	18.8	18.9	19.9	18	21.6	20.9	23.3	24.9
Deerbolt	21.7	19.9	21.1	21.4	21.1	19.9	20.5	22.9
Doncaster	16.7	17	18.3	19.1	20.1	19.6	19.6	21.2
Dorchester	16.2	14.4	19.5	17.2	15.7	18.2	17.6	16.2
Dovegate	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	27.5	25.7	25.5	29.6
Dover	21.7	21.2	23.4	25.2	27.3	22.5	n/a	0.0
Downview	31.5	30.8	29.8	30.5	23.7	24.7	23.2	28.1
Drake Hall	35.1	34.9	35.9	35.8	35.8	33.5	33.3	35.5
Durham	16.7	20.2	18.7	19.8	20.3	19.1	18	17.8
East Sutton Park	38.4	40.1	40.1	41.2	42	43.1	46.4	46.0
Eastwood Park	19.7	21.6	21.6	23.6	19.4	18.8	17.9	18.5
Edmunds Hill(27)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	21	26.4
Elmley	19	20.2	21.8	21.6	18.6	18.6	20.6	18.8
Erlestoke	29	27.2	28.4	26.8	27.9	27.1	25.5	27.1
Everthorpe	25.8	27	26.3	27.1	28	31.6	28.1	24.9
Exeter	17.9	13.6	15	23	22.9	21.6	22.5	23.0
Featherstone	23.7	24.7	26.1	24.3	24.2	24.4	23	22.0
Feltham	19.6	15.5	15.2	14.4	24.7	22.3	28.1	28.7
Ford	33.7	35.6	38.8	38.3	39.8	39.4	37.6	38.6
Forest Bank	n/a	n/a	18.5	27.5	21.7	19.2	20.9	24.7
Foston Hall	21.3	23.4	25.7	25.4	25.4	25.3	24.5	23.9
Frankland	17	18.4	19.4	21.3	20.9	21.6	22.2	22.0
Full Sutton	18	17.6	18.7	17.8	17.4	16.8	19	19.8
Garth	21	21.2	21.2	23.7	23.4	23.4	24.2	23.5
Gartree	26.5	27	28.4	30.1	30.5	28.9	30.5	29.2
Glen Parva	16.5	16.7	16	18.3	18.2	17.9	17.4	18.0
Gloucester	20.6	26.4	29.4	29.5	20.5	16.2	20.2	20.4
Grendon	33.3	34.2	35.2	37.2	35.6	33.4	32.5	30.8
Guys Marsh	30.9	22.8	27.9	26.5	22.6	22.7	22.4	24.7
Haslar	21.4	18.8	16.1	16.7	15.2	15	15.4	16.4
Hatfield(26)	37.2	32.5	40.6	36.7	37.1	38.4	n/a	n/a
Haverigg	33.8	33.9	33.8	33.6	31.1	30.4	29.9	28.5
Hewell Grange	41.2	42.7	41.8	44.3	42.6	41.1	42.1	41.9
High Down	15.7	13.9	16.4	15.8	15.9	14.1	15.2	14.6
Highpoint(27)	17.7	23.2	20.9	18.9	18.9	18	19.9	22.0
Hindley	20.1	23.8	24	28.6	20.5	34.9	34.5	32.0
Hollesley Bay(28)	28.1	28.1	33.8	36.2	36.5	32.6	38.3	40.7
Holloway	18.7	17.6	15.4	21.9	20.3	15.8	16.9	20.3
Holme House	16	15.8	16.6	16.6	15.5	14.4	15.8	16.7
Hull	18.6	20.1	22.5	21.9	20.5	15.3	15.8	16.1
Huntercombe	25.1	23.8	26.3	23.9	26.7	26.5	30.1	30.9
Kingston	28.6	23.9	23.9	24.2	24.3	23.3	25.1	26.4
Kirkham	54.8	43.5	44.3	43.7	43.4	41.3	40.4	41.7
Kirklevington	48.8	50.1	52.5	54.3	51.6	53	51.7	53.9
Lancaster	22.7	20.7	23.2	28.7	24.9	22.9	23.7	26.6
Lancaster Farms	22.4	20.5	20.6	22.5	22.6	23.3	26.1	25.9
Latchmere House	72.8	70.2	74.1	63.6	61.2	55.6	57.6	59.9
Leeds	15.5	14.8	14.5	16.5	18.7	17.5	18.1	22.1
Leicester	21.4	20.5	19.3	19	21	21.4	23.1	23.2
Lewes	18.5	18.5	18.8	18	18.6	19.5	21	21.5
Leyhill	38.5	39	38.8	39	37.8	39.1	37.9	37.3
Lincoln	19.6	22.9	24.9	24.5	18.6	18.3	19.3	20.9
Lindholme	25.3	24.2	26.9	26.7	27.7	24.3	25.9	27.3
Littlehey	29.8	26	25.5	23.5	23.1	21.5	20.2	20.9
Liverpool	16.5	18.7	22.6	22.9	17.7	14	18.6	21.7
Long Lartin	15.6	17	16.5	17.8	18.3	18.5	15.7	19.1
Low Newton	21.7	20.2	25.5	25.1	23.7	23.9	24.6	24.8
Lowdham Grange	n/a	25.3	24.7	24	27.2	27.5	26.8	26.5
Maidstone	22.5	21.3	22.3	21.7	21	17.6	19.1	21.7
Manchester	29.4	26.7	22.2	19.4	19.7	19.8	19.6	19.5
Moorland(26)	25.3	24	23.1	24.7	25	25.3	27.6	28.7
Morton Hall	39.1	37.8	41.4	41.7	30.7	32	31.9	31.6
Mount	18.4	18	18.6	18.3	20	19.7	20.4	22.0
New Hall	22.9	23.8	23.1	23.5	22.9	24.1	23.5	24.7
North Sea Camp	42.4	45.1	41	42.3	42.2	41.8	40.4	39.4
Northallerton	14.7	14.5	17.6	18.8	22.1	23.3	22.3	25.9
Norwich	18.1	18	19.2	20	18.9	17.4	17.9	21.5
Nottingham	18.1	15.3	20.6	18.3	17.2	18.1	19.2	20.7
Onley	20	18.4	17.4	18.6	18	23	28.1	27.0
Parc	n/a	30	36.2	25.3	26.8	24.4	26.3	31.3
Parkhurst	20.1	19.5	21.5	20.5	19.1	15.2	20.3	21.4
Pentonville	19.6	20.3	20.4	17.8	15	14.1	14.1	13.3
Portland	29.4	23.1	22.8	23.4	24.5	23.2	20.9	19.1
Preston	17.4	17.1	16.8	21.6	21.1	19.8	21.1	21.0
Ranby	30.2	26.4	25.8	25.4	23.6	24.1	25.1	25.3
Reading	24.2	23.8	31.7	29.2	24.4	19.3	18.3	22.3
Risley	22.7	21.9	22.3	23.8	25.2	22.7	23.7	24.8
Rochester	18.7	19.1	17.5	21.5	23	22.7	20.2	23.0
Rye Hill	n/a	n/a	n/a	26	29.4	28.5	28.5	27.7
Send	35.1	40.6	31.6	31.7	31.4	30	30.6	32.7
Shepton Mallet	23.7	22.7	20.7	23.6	23	23.5	24.6	24.4
Shrewsbury	21.4	22.7	23.2	24.9	23.8	17.8	19.5	20.1
Stafford	25	22.4	24.8	26.5	26.4	26.3	24.1	24.2
Standford Hill	43.7	44.1	39.7	41	39.7	39.8	38.1	37.6
Stocken	27.1	23.2	22.1	23.2	23.2	26.1	26	26.1
Stoke Heath	21.6	21.6	22.5	24.4	25.8	20.4	21.8	23.6
Styal	28.6	28.7	21.7	24.3	24.9	21.9	21	23.2
Sudbury	47.2	44.5	43.4	41.7	41.5	42	42	41.4
Swaleside	22	22.3	21.3	25.2	24.4	24.4	27.2	24.5
Swansea	15	20	20.8	22.4	22	19.7	21.1	22.3
Swinfen Hall	25.5	28.9	30.7	28.9	28	27.2	28.7	25.9
Thorn Cross	50.3	50.3	45.3	42.7	43.9	42.7	42.8	43.1
Usk·Prescoed	35.5	34.9	37.5	38.8	37.9	37.1	35.9	35.8
Verne	30.9	27.2	30.9	27.6	28.4	31.6	30.9	31.4
Wakefield	17.8	18.2	20	19	18.2	18	16	16.7
Wandsworth	22	18.9	18.4	18.1	17.1	16.7	16.8	20.5
Warren Hill(28)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	26.2	24.6
Wayland	24.6	24	24	23.3	20.8	24.7	24.8	26.1
Wealstun	33.7	30.6	32.9	32.8	32.6	32.5	33	29.8
Weare	19.6	20.8	20.7	19.9	18.8	17.8	18.6	19.8
Wellingborough	25.1	24.9	25	25.3	28.1	25	22.6	22.6
Werrington	36.5	24	37.9	37.1	32.6	30.1	27.3	30.7
Wetherby	29.5	28.3	27.9	26.6	27.1	28.9	29.1	27.8
Whatton	30.6	28.8	29.9	29.9	30.7	29.8	29.8	31.6
Whitemoor	18.5	19.6	21.4	21.6	20.2	20.6	21.2	21.3
Winchester	17.2	15.7	15.2	16.8	19	18.8	20.4	22.2
Wolds	31	29.1	28.9	28.5	28.3	28.7	29.2	30.2
Woodhill	20.9	19.8	17.9	17.6	16	16.2	15.4	16.3
Wormwood Scrubs	13.6	14.2	19.3	21.3	18.5	14.6	18.4	22.2
Wymott	34.4	28.7	29.8	27.3	27.7	28.3	30.9	28.3

⁽²⁶⁾ Moorland and Hatfield merged in 2003–04.
⁽²⁷⁾ Highpoint and Edmunds Hill began reporting separately in 2003–04.
⁽²⁸⁾ Hollesley Bay and Warren Hill began reporting separately in 2003–04.



 
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Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what was the average waiting time for prisoners to be transferred from their original prison to their next prison in the last period for which figures are available; [22722]

(2) what the average waiting time for prisoners in Her Majesty's prisons to obtain a classification was in the last period for which figures are available. [22723]

Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested is not collated centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
 
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