The information requested, as at 21 July 2006, is set out in the following tables.
Prison name Operational capacity Population Acklington 854 840 Albany 527 516 Altcourse 1,024 1013 Ashwell 545 540 Bedford 494 479 Belmarsh 905 917 Birmingham 1,450 1,447 Blakenhurst 1,070 1,067 Blantyre House 122 122 Blundeston 464 462 Brinsford 489 479 Bristol 606 594 Brixton 798 807 Brockhill 150 2 Bronzefield 450 426 Buckley Hall 385 378 Bullingdon 963 961 Bullwood Hall 184 91 Camp Hill 585 585 Canterbury 284 282 Cardiff 754 752 Castington 410 401 Channings Wood 667 663 Chelmsford 575 569 Coldingley 392 390 Cookham Wood 185 177 Dartmoor 625 615 Doncaster 1,120 1,114 Dorchester 256 229 Dovegate 860 824 Down view 358 338 Durham 921 874 Eastwood Park 362 339 Edmunds Hill 371 363 Elmley 985 984 Erlestoke 426 423 Everthorpe 681 673 Exeter 533 513 Featherstone 615 608 Forest Bank 1,064 1,049 Foston Hall 274 224 Frankland 734 713 Full Sutton 588 571 Garth 619 607 Gartree 575 505 Gloucester 323 311 Grendon 235 225 Guys Marsh 505 505 Haverigg 568 559 Highdown 707 683 Highpoint 816 811 Holloway 493 468 Holme House 994 992 Hull 1,000 1,000 Kingston 194 190 Kirklevington 223 219 Lancaster 243 239 Lancaster Farms 277 280 Latchmere House 207 190 Leeds 1,150 1,172 Leicester 385 329 Lewes 558 517 Lincoln 490 482 Lindholme 762 765 Littlehey 706 696 Liverpool 1,377 1,314 Long Lartin 444 441 Low Newton 310 281 Lowdham Grange 524 520 Maidstone 589 587 Manchester 1,269 1,230 Morton Hall 392 382 Mount 720 719 New Hall 443 373 Norwich 644 580 Nottingham 510 510 Parc 630 607 Parkhurst 493 471 Pentonville 1,127 1,128 Peterborough 840 816 Preston 690 662 Ranby 1,038 1,036 Risley 1,073 1,065 Rye Hill 600 593 Send 218 211 Shepton Mallet 189 185 Shrewsbury 340 341 Stafford 676 680 Stocken 622 616 Styal 469 445 Swaleside 778 780 Swansea 428 431 Swinfen Hall 240 255 Usk 250 246 Verne 587 586 Wakefield 751 736 Wandsworth 1,459 1,468 Wayland 709 700 Wellingborough 614 604 Wetherby 363 329 Whatton 761 661 Whitemoor 458 435 Winchester 697 713 Wolds 300 287 Woodhill 652 676 Wormwood Scrubs 1,239 1,239 Wymott 1,046 1,045
This includes all closed prisons, including both male and female. Some closed prisons hold YO's in separate, dedicated YO units.
On occasions prisons are listed as having populations higher than their operational capacity. The reason for this is most often attributed to prisoners on authorised absences.
HMYOI Operational capacity Population2 Ashfield 380 373 Askham Grange 128 115 Aylesbury 444 443 Brinsford 489 468 Castington 410 359 Chelmsford 132 132 Deerbolt 458 421 Feltham 764 613 Glen Parva 808 806 Guys Marsh 73 73 Hindley 455 435 Huntercombe 368 357 Lancaster Farms 277 280 Moorland 385 419 Northallerton 252 238 Norwich 180 181 Onley 180 187 Pare 406 426 Portland 524 499 Reading 297 276 Rochester 392 390 Stoke Heath 688 661 Swinfen Hall 380 356 Thorn Cross 321 216 Warren Hill 222 216 Werrington 162 155 Wetherby 363 329 1 Some YOIs hold juveniles as well as Young Offenders. 2 As at 1 June 2006.
(2) when the first male inmates are scheduled to be sent to HMP Bullwood Hall; and if he will make a statement;
(3) when the decision was taken to change the status of HMP Bullwood Hall from a female to a male prison; and if he will make a statement;
(4) whether a risk assessment was undertaken prior to the decision to change the status of HMP Bullwood Hall from a female to a male prison; and if he will make a statement;
(5) what additional security measures are planned at HMP Bullwood Hall to accommodate the change from female to male prisoners; and if he will make a statement.
[holding answer 15 June 2006]: Category C adult male prisoners are located in Bullwood Hall. Additional security has been put in place, but it is not Government policy to comment on specific security measures. Male prisoners were located at Bullwood Hall from 27 June. The decision to change the function of Bullwood Hall was taken on 18 May 2006. Full consideration was given to the risks involved when making the decision to change function. It was decided to change function to ensure that there was sufficient capacity for the adult male prisoner population at a time when there was spare capacity within the women’s prison estate.
The data on the number of immigration act detainees cannot be separated out for Irish nationals because the numbers are small and their accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
The information requested is shown in the table. The land upon which the prisons are built is leased to the contractor and expires with the operating contract, which runs for 25 years from the opening of the prison (i.e. the receipt of the first prisoners).
Prison Date of contract signature (contract let) Date of receiving first prisoners Altcourse 20 December 1995 1 December 1997 Ashfield 29 June 1998 1 November 1999 Dovegate 24 September 1999 9 July 2001 Forest Bank 1 July 1998 20 January 2000 Lowdham Grange 7 November 1996 16 February 1998 Parc 4 January 1996 17 November 1997 Rye Hill 22 July 1999 21 January 2001 Bronzefield 20 December 2002 17 June 2004 Peterborough 14 February 2003 28 March 2005
We do not record the number of cells used to hold prisoners in crowded conditions. We do, however, record the number of prisoners held two in a cell certified for one. On this basis we have estimated the number of such cells in the following table. We do not collect information about the numbers of prisoners held in crowded conditions in larger multi-occupancy rooms. There is no planned date to end the use of crowded conditions for all prisoners.
Number of cells 1997-98 Not available 1998-99 6,012 1999-2000 6,110 2000-01 5,564 2001-02 5,724 2002-03 7,294 2003-04 8,181 2004-05 8,439 2005-06 8,493
There is no requirement for a specific proportion of the Home Office or Prison Service budgets to be spent on non-governmental agencies and charities working in prisons. Partnership working with the voluntary sector is encouraged and takes place in a number of sectors.
The amount of such expenditure is not separately recorded so the proportion of budget spent cannot be provided.
The following table details incidents of assaults on staff by prisoners in England and Wales prisons reported on the central incident reporting system.
Number 1998 1,664 1999 1,949 2000 2,012 2001 2,468 2002 2,587 2003 2,604 2004 2,887 2005 3,209 Total 19,380
[holding answer 12 September 2006]: The eligibility requirements for release on temporary licence are complex. These include, for example, the length of sentence imposed, the prisoner’s security category and the period of the sentence the prisoner has served. Full details are contained in Prison Service Order 6300, which is available on the prison service website and in the Library.
Information on the number of prisoners who are eligible for any type of temporary release, including those eligible to work outside prison and those eligible for overnight temporary release is not held centrally and could only be obtained by examining individual prisoner records held in establishments. This could be carried out only at disproportionate cost. Data on the numbers of releases on temporary licence broken down by type of licence are contained in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004 which is available on the Home Office website.
[holding answer 12 October 2006]: When a prisoner absconds from an open prison the police are notified and the prisoner’s details entered on the police national computer as being unlawfully at large and subject to immediate arrest.
Leyhill prison has advised that between 1 April and 10 October this year 12 prisoners absconded. Three of these remain unlawfully at large, of whom two were convicted of robbery and one of burglary.
(2) whether the proposed additional 8,000 prison places will be financed from (a) public funds, (b) private finance initiatives and (c) other means;
(3) what estimate he has made of (a) the number of additional prison officers that will be required for the proposed 8,000 additional prison places and (b) what the cost will be.
The programme to provide 8,000 new places is still in development and final decisions have not yet been made.
We anticipate, however, that around half the additional places will be in public prisons and half in private prisons. Provisional proposals for funding the construction involve a combination of public funds, private finance initiatives and other means.
The funding required for the recruitment of staff has been accounted for, but is dependent on the type and location of prisons and whether they are financed publicly or privately. As the prison regimes are also under consideration, decisions on the number of additional prison officers required have not yet been made.
Under the old escort contracts, each court had a specific time by which all prisoners scheduled to appear that day should be delivered to the court. This was generally 09:30 hours.
Under the current contracts, which started on 29 August, contractors are required to deliver prisoners by:
The designated ready and available for court time (DRACT). This means that prisoners are ready and available 30 minutes before the court sits, having had an opportunity to meet their legal advisor;
11:30 hours, where the court has scheduled, listed or indicate on a warrant a court appearance after 12:00 hours for a particular prisoner’s case; or
a time agreed with the court on those occasions where a prisoner is being taken to a court at some distance from the prison in which they are being held.
Details of the number of prisoners escorted by the court escort contractors to and from courts and between prisons are set out in the following table. The table excludes the number of prisoners escorted by the Prison Service, including category A prisoner moves.
Financial year Number of prisoners escorted 2001-02 952,424 2002-03 1,024,102 2003-04 990,222 2004-05 960,688 2005-06 974,745
Records of moves arranged locally by prisons are not held centrally.
[holding answer 16 October 2006]: An overcrowding draft is used in exceptional circumstances to transfer prisoners without delay to an appropriate alternative prison with the same designated level of security categorisation.
The information requested is not held centrally.
HM Prison Service offers nutrition and health training courses for staff, leading to a formal qualification from the Royal Institute of Public Health. Since this was introduced in 2002, approximately 300 staff have successfully passed the course. Some establishments also involve the local hospital dietician in their menu planning.
All prison establishments aim to offer a range of foods that enable prisoners to make healthy eating choices and the overall standard of prison food was recently recognised by the National Audit Office in its report “HM Prison Service—Serving Time: Prisoner Diet and Exercise” (March 2006). They reported that
“on the whole, food offered to prisoners is in line with the Government's recommendations on healthy eating”.
The programme is restricted to the six prisoners in the Close Supervision Centre. The CSC system holds the most dangerous, difficult and disruptive prisoners in prison custody. Payments made are not solely for leisure purposes but cover a range of constructive activities including education, contact with the mental health nurse, gardening, the workshop, cleaning and cooking with a tutor. The programme commenced with the opening of the Whitemoor CSC unit in October 2004.
The aim of the programme is to encourage prisoners to engage in purposeful and rewarding activity and to reintegrate prisoners back into the main prison system as a step towards encouraging them to address their offending behaviour. The maximum sum a prisoner may earn is £2 per day or £14 per week.
Whitemoor is one of three prisons in England and Wales containing CSC units. The other two are Wakefield and Woodhill prisons. Each unit is designed to deal with a specific type of CSC prisoner and provides a range of activities designed to meet their needs accordingly.
[holding answer 25 October 2006]: There are no planned management changes at senior level at Pentonville, Feltham or London area office except for where vacancies exist. The London area manager is due to retire in February 2007 and will be replaced then.
[holding answer 25 October 2006]: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Guidance for Governors on accepting or declaring hospitality is contained in the Prison Service Finance Manual Prison Service Order (PSO 7500). Staff are advised through the Prison Service Staff Handbook, which is available to all staff and includes the guiding principles to be followed.
The Prison Service anti-fraud strategy (PSO1310) contains mandatory actions requiring staff to report any conflicts of interest, including any offer of gifts or hospitality (whether accepted or not), to the Governor or Head of Group.
This information is also available on the Prison Service website at www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk