| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
12 Oct 2009 : Column 138W—continued
(1) Available at:
Prisoners: Females
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many women in each age group were received into prison under sentence in each of the last 10 years. [291726]
Claire Ward: The table shows the numbers of female prisoners that were received under sentence in all prison establishments in England and Wales in each year since 1998, by age band.
| Number of persons | |||||||||||
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
| Note: Excludes police cells | |||||||||||
This information is taken from table 6.6 in the recently published Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2008, a copy of which has been placed in the House of Commons Library, and which can also be found at the following website:
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: Foreigners
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) Romanian and (b) Bulgarian nationals are serving sentences in UK prisons. [291831]
Claire Ward: At the end of June 2009, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 180 Romanian and 36 Bulgarian nationals serving sentences in all prison establishments in England and Wales. Statistics relating to the numbers held in Scottish and Northern Irish prisons are the responsibility of the Scottish Government and the Northern Irish Prison Service respectively.
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: Learning Disability
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners diagnosed with a learning disability have been transferred from prison to secure units in each strategic health authority region in each of the last five years. [290242]
Claire Ward: Information is not available in the form requested. However, information is available on the number of prisoners with a diagnosis of 'mental impairment' or 'severe mental impairment' within the terms of the Mental Health Act 1983 who have been transferred from prison to a secure hospital unit in England and Wales in the last five years. Individuals in these categories will almost invariably have a learning disability. The figures are shown in the following table. A breakdown by strategic health authority is not available.
| Number transferred | |
Prisoners: Mentally Ill
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners with mental illnesses have been transferred from prison to hospital (a) six months, (b) one month and (c) a week before their release date in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [290013]
Claire Ward: The information requested is shown in the table. The number of transferred prisoners includes both restricted and unrestricted patients, and includes prisoners suffering from all the categories of mental disorder defined in the Mental Health Act 1983 before its amendment with effect from 3 November 2008.
| (a) Six months | (b) One month | (c) One week | Period unknown | ||||||
| Total number of transfers to hospital involving sentenced prisoners | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
Many of the prisoners who were transferred within one month or one week of their release date were serving short sentences of less than six months. The Secretary of State will only authorise a transfer very close to the end of sentence where he is satisfied on the basis of medical advice that it is justified by the prisoner's medical condition.
Prisoners: Mobile Phones
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many mobile telephones were found in the possession of prisoners in (a) top security and (b) all other prisons in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [287998]
Maria Eagle: Prisons in England and Wales are asked to send mobile phones and SIM cards they find to a central unit for analysis. In the last 12 months (from July 2008-June 2009), 8,648 mobile phones and SIM cards were analysed. 255 were from the high security estate and 8,393 were from the non-high security estate. These figures include items discovered within prison perimeters and on entry to establishments. We do not keep central records of mobile phones found in the possession of prisoners.
We believe that these figures may understate the actual number of finds, because they do not include items retained by the police for evidential purposes, and because in some instances prisons have not sent items for analysis. NOMS is putting in place new procedures to ensure that we have a more comprehensive picture in future. While the numbers of phones found indicates the scale of the challenge in tackling illicit mobile phones, it is also a reflection of prisons' increasing success in finding them and better reporting.
NOMS is implementing a strategy to minimise the number of phones entering prisons, and to find or disrupt those that do enter. As part of the strategy, prisons have been provided with technologies to strengthen local security and searching strategies, in line with the recommendations in the Blakey report, "Disrupting the Supply of Illicit Drugs into Prisons", published in July 2008. This includes the roll out of "BOSS" chairs to all prisons, and the deployment of other detection and disruption technologies, including mobile phone signal blockers.
We have also strengthened the law, through the Offender Management Act 2007 (implemented in April 2008), which makes it a criminal offence with a punishment of up to two years' imprisonment to bring an unauthorised mobile phone or component part into a prison.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |