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22 July 2008 : Column 1240W—continued


Prison Sentences

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners are serving indeterminate sentences for public protection. [220912]


22 July 2008 : Column 1241W

Mr. Hanson: At the end of May 2008 there were 4,350 prisoners in all prison establishments in England and Wales serving indeterminate sentences for public protection.

This figure has been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing, and so the number has been rounded.

Prisoners Release

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders serving indeterminate sentences for public protection are being held beyond the expiry of their tariff. [220800]

Mr. Straw: The database created to support the management of offenders serving indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection indicated on 15 July 2008 that, for those where there is a confirmed recorded tariff date, 794 had tariffs which have expired.

The database is necessarily a large administrative system tracking a changing and moving population and therefore may not be 100 per cent. accurate. It is updated at intervals rather than being a real time record.

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were released on temporary licence in each of the last 10 years. [220910]

Mr. Hanson: Records are not held of the number of prisoners granted temporary release. The number of temporary release licences issued in each year since 1997 from all prison establishments in England and Wales can be found in the following table:

 Number of temporary release licences issued

1997

227,078

1998

255,886

1999

256,179

2000

256,838

2001

270,122

2002

287,732

2003

328,777

2004

389,548

2005

405,259

2006

400,238


These figures are taken from table 10.6 of Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2006 copies of which
22 July 2008 : Column 1242W
can be found in the House of Commons Library. The data above are the total of all individual licences issued. Some prisoners will be granted temporary release on a number of occasions and so will be issued with multiple licences over the course of a year.

Release on temporary licence is the mechanism that enables prisoners to participate in necessary activities, outside of the prison establishment, that directly contribute to their resettlement into the community and their development of a purposeful law abiding life. Prisoners are not granted temporary release unless they meet the eligibility criteria and pass a stringent risk assessment.

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.

Prisoners Release: Employment

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what schemes are in place in Leeds to assist prisoners in getting employment upon release; and if he will make a statement. [220711]

Maria Eagle: The National Offender Management Service is committed to increasing job opportunities and employment for prisoners on release. There are a currently a number of such schemes in Leeds including services provided by the West Yorkshire Probation Area and Department for Work and Pensions. At HMP Leeds itself a range of schemes are available to help prisoners into work including Jobcentre plus, a job club, a job link—to help retain employment for offenders with short sentences; annual job fairs and a range of vocational qualifications and preparation for work training programmes.

Prisoners: Childbirth

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many women gave birth to children while serving a custodial sentence in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) age of the mother and (b) prison establishment. [221507]

Maria Eagle: The National Offender Management Service has only routinely kept information centrally on births in custody since April 2005. Figures prior to this date are not available.

The number of women that have given birth to children while serving a custodial sentence since April 2005 are as follows:


22 July 2008 : Column 1243W

22 July 2008 : Column 1244W
April 2005 to March 2006( 1)
Age of Prisoners
Establishment 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

HMP/YOI Askham Grange

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1

—

—

—

HMP Brockhill

1

—

—

—

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

1

—

—

—

HMP Bronzefield

—

—

—

1

1

—

1

2

3

2

4

—

—

—

2

HMP Bullwood Hall

1

—

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP/YOI Eastwood Park

2

—

—

2

1

—

—

—

—

1

2

—

—

—

—

HMP Holloway

1

2

3

2

3

3

2

2

2

—

1

—

1

—

2

Low Newton

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP New Hall

2

1

1

1

4

1

—

—

3

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP Peterborough

—

—

—

—

2

1

—

—

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP Styal

1

—

—

—

1

—

—

—

1

—

2

1

—

1

—


Age of Prisoners
Establishment 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

HMP/YOI Askham Grange

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP Brockhill

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP Bronzefield

1

1

1

—

—

1

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP Bullwood Hall

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP/YOI Eastwood Park

1

1

1

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP Holloway

2

1

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

Low Newton

—

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP New Hall

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP Peterborough

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

HMP Styal

2

—

2

1

—

—

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

(1) Total of 106 women gave birth.
Note:
Age of three mothers were not recorded at HMP Styal.
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