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Mr. Sproat
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what latest estimate he has made of the weekly cost of keeping a person in prison.
Mr. Harry Ewing
The estimated total cost of Scottish prisons in the financial year 1976–77, the latest figure available, distributed over the daily average population, gives a figure of approximately £80 per week per prisoner. The marginal cost of keeping a single prisoner in the system cannot be exactly estimated but is of course very much less.