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Prisons

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners escaped while being transferred between prisons in each year since 2000. [102018]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The following table shows the number of escapes in England and Wales, recorded by the inter prison transfer contractor, for each year from April 2000:

	Number of escapes
2000	1
2001	2
2002	0
2003	0
2004	0
2005	0
2006 (to date)	1

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women in each prison in England and Wales have home addresses in Wales. [102404]

Mr. Sutcliffe: There is insufficient information recorded on the prison IT system relating to the residential addresses of prisoners to give a comprehensive response, and it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which prisons are officially overcrowded. [103619]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Prisons are considered to be overcrowded when prisoners are held in accommodation units intended for fewer prisoners. At the end of October 2006, the following establishments in England and Wales were overcrowded. Information on prisons in Scotland and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Scottish Executive and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Overcrowded prisons at the end of October 2006 in England and Wales

Altcourse

Ashwell

Bedford

Belmarsh

Birmingham

Blakenhurst

Blundeston

Brinsford

Bristol

Brixton

Buckley Hall

Bullingdon

Camp Hill

Canterbury

Cardiff

Channings Wood

Chelmsford

Coldingley

Cookham Wood

Dartmoor

Doncaster

Dorchester

Dovegate

Durham

Eastwood Park

Erlestoke

Everthorpe

Exeter

Featherstone

Forest Bank

Garth

Glen Parva

Gloucester

Guys Marsh

Haverigg

High Down

Highpoint

Holme House

Hull

Isle of Sheppey Cluster

Lancaster

28 Nov 2006 : Column 671W

Lancaster Farms

Leeds

Leicester

Lewes

Lincoln

Littlehey

Liverpool

Low Newton

Lowdham Grange

Maidstone

Manchester

Moorland

Mount

New Hall

Northallerton

Norwich

Nottingham

Parc

Parkhurst

Pentonville

Preston

Ranby

Reading

Risley

Shepton Mallet

Shrewsbury

Stafford

Stocken

Stoke Heath

Styal

Swansea

Usk\Prescoed

Verne

Wandsworth

Wayland

Wealstun

Wetherby

Whatton

Winchester

Wolds

Woodhill

Wormwood Scrubs

Wymott

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have (a) committed suicide and (b) attempted to commit suicide in each of the last 10 years. [103622]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested with respect to apparent self-inflicted deaths is shown in the table.

There is no definition of what constitutes an attempted suicide, as it is very difficult to measure suicidal intent.

28 Nov 2006 : Column 672W

	Type of death: Self-inflicted( 1)
1996	65
1997	68
1998	83
1999	91
2000	81
2001	73
2002	95
2003	94
2004	95
2005	78
2006 (at 22 November 2006)	61
(1 )Number of apparent self-inflicted deaths—this includes all deaths where it appears the individual acted specifically to take their own life, not only those that received a suicide or open verdict at inquest. Note: Annual numbers may change slightly from time to time as inquest verdicts and other information become available.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many instances of prisoner against prisoner acts of violence were recorded in the last five years. [103625]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is provided in the table.

Assaults in custody range from relatively minor ones where no injuries are sustained to very serious ones where the victim may be hospitalised and criminal charges follow. Assaults, particularly less serious ones, may also occur in the context of other incidents such as drug finds, etc. The information provided here reflects those incidents specifically reported as assaults by prisons on the Prison Service’s Incident Reporting System.

There are likely to be a number of different factors influencing the figures and it is not possible to attribute the changes to a single cause. The main reasons may be some combination of improved recording over the years, changes in the patterns of violent crime, population pressures placing extra burdens on staff and prisoners, and increases in stress-levels making violence more likely.

	Assault category: Prisoner on prisoner
2000	7,189
2001	7,940
2002	8,699
2003	8,954
2004	9,411
2005	10,811
Notes: Table 1: IRS reported assaults 1. The table excludes assaults instigated by others e.g. visitors on staff. 2. These numbers are derived from the Prison Service Incident Reporting System (IRS). This systems processes high volumes of data and is being constantly updated. The numbers shown give a fair indication of the scale but should not be treated as absolute.

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deaths have occurred in prisons within the Metropolitan Police District in each year since 2000. [103701]

Mr. Sutcliffe: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 November 2006, Official Report, column 234W.

28 Nov 2006 : Column 673W

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many escapes have occurred from prisons within the Metropolitan Police District in each year since 2000. [103702]

Mr. McNulty: The information requested by the hon. Member is given in the following table.

Escapes from prison in the Metropolitan Police district area in each year since 2000
Prison	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006( 1)
Belmarsh	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Brixton	—	—	1	—	—	—	—
Feltham	—	1	—	—	—	—	—
Holloway	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Latchmere House	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Pentonville	—	—	—	—	1	—	—
Wandsworth	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Wormwood Scrubs	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
(1) Year to date Note: The figures show escapes from establishments and exclude those under escort. Year to date figures include up to 22 November 2006.

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