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26 Nov 2007 : Column 89W—continued
Prison Service
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects to publish the Carter and Corston reviews on prison services. [167616]
Mr. Hanson: Baroness Corston published her review of women in the criminal justice system on 13 March 2007. The Government have given a broad welcome to the report and are exploring the best way of taking forward the recommendations with all the departments and agencies concerned. We hope to be able to respond in a positive way before Christmas.
Lord Carter of Coles’ review is looking at the long-term future of the prison estate and at both the supply and demand of prison places. We look forward to receiving Lord Carter’s report once he has reached a conclusion, and will respond in due course.
Prisoners Release
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of prisoners released in (a) England and (b) London were reconvicted in each year since 1997. [166928]
Mr. Hanson: The following table shows the available figures for the two-year re-offending rate for adult offenders in England and Wales discharged from prison in the first quarter of each year.
| Two year re-offending rate (Percentage ) | |
Prior to 2000, different data were used to calculate figures on re-offending, and these earlier figures are not comparable. Further information is available in the most recent Statistical Bulletin on adult re-offending which can be found at the Ministry of Justice website:
The analysis does not include a breakdown by area.
Prisoners: Police Cells
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) police cells and (b) custody suites in West Chelmsford constituency are occupied by serving prisoners who have been given a custodial sentence. [167066]
Mr. Hanson: No police stations in the West Chelmsford constituency are currently being used to hold prisoners under Operation Safeguard.
Prisoners held in police cells under Operation Safeguard are primarily adult male prisoners remanded in custody by the courts.
Prisoners: Sentencing
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners are being held on indeterminate sentences. [167604]
Mr. Hanson: At the end of September 2007 there were 9,942 prisoners serving indeterminate sentences in prison establishments in England and Wales. This information is published monthly on the Ministry of Justice website at:
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Prisons
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were in prison in each London borough in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many of those in each case were from that borough. [166931]
Maria Eagle: There are eight prisons in seven London boroughs. The total numbers of prisoners and the numbers originating from each of these boroughs on 19 September 2007 are shown in the table as follows.
| London boroughs with prison capacity | Total prison population in borough | Prison population originating from borough |
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
Prisons: Overcrowding
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent steps the Government has taken to reduce prison overcrowding. [164694]
Mr. Hanson: We have announced a 9,500 capacity-building programme of which 700 new places will be delivered this year and 2,400 in 2008. New accommodation is being brought into use as quickly as possible and we are ensuring that we make the most of existing accommodation.
Lord Carter of Coles is undertaking a review of prisons that will look at options both for increasing supply of prison places and for reducing demand for them. He will report his findings to the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Justice Secretary when completed.
Prisons: Suicide
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many suicide attempts there were in each Welsh prison in each year since 2003. [166179]
Maria Eagle: There is no definition of what constitutes an attempted suicide, as it is very difficult to measure suicidal intent, and therefore my Department is unable to provide the data requested. However, the following table gives details of all self-harm incidents and apparently self-inflicted deaths in each Welsh prison from 2003 onwards.
Prisons: Visits
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many visitors to prisons were found to be in possession of illegal drugs in each year since 1997; how many such visitors were referred to the police; and what steps were taken in respect of those not referred to the police. [166839]
Mr. Hanson: A comprehensive framework is in place for dealing with visitors who seek to smuggle drugs through visits. The number of visitors suspected of involvement in drug smuggling incidents and the action taken internally by prisons along with the number of visitors arrested is detailed in the table.
No record is kept of the number of visitors found to be in possession of illegal drugs but a good indication is the number arrested.
These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
| 1999-2000( 1) | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | ||
| (1) The first year in which visits ban data became available. (2) Number of reported drug incidents in which a visitor was suspected of involvement and arrested by police. A particular incident may involve more than one arrest. | |||||||||
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