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Mr. Greenway
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the cost of maintaining a prisoner in (a) local prisons, (b) other prisons and (c) penal establishments for those below prison age, in the latest year for which statistics are available; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor
The latest available information was published in the report on the work of the prison department 1985–86 (Cm. 11—ppendix 3, table E) a copy of which is in the Library. As noted in paragraph 70 of the report, the figures reflected a 1 per cent. reduction in real operating costs, in a year in which the prison population grew by 7 per cent.