The information requested on length on time served prior to release on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) could be provided by examining individual prisoner records only at disproportionate cost. However information is available on the number of prisoners released on HDC in each year from 1999-2007 by sentence length band, as shown in the following tables. These figures can be found in Prison Statistics England and Wales, 1999-2002 and Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003-07, copies of which can be found in the House of Commons Library, and also on the Ministry of Justice website at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/prisonandprobation.htm.
Eligible prisoners are not released on HDC unless they have served a minimum of one quarter of their sentence in custody, subject to a minimum of 30 days.
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.
1999 2000 2001 Population in sentence length band Released Release rate (%) Population in sentence length band Released Release rate (%) Population in sentence length band Released Release rate (%) Total 49,530 14,820 30 55,344 15,513 28 54,064 13,664 25 All cases to less than 12 months 27,558 7,440 34 31,382 7,927 25 30,646 6,747 22 3 months to less than 4 months 6,256 1,370 27 7,177 1,553 22 6,791 1,205 18 4 months to less than 6 months 9,612 2,354 22 11,116 2,338 21 11,239 2,067 18 6 months to less than 8 months 7,023 2,061 24 8,047 2,304 29 8,110 1,952 24 8 months to less than 12 months 4,667 1,655 29 5,042 1,732 34 4,506 1,523 34 12 months to less than 4 years 21,972 7,380 34 23,962 7,586 32 23,418 6,917 30
Population in sentence length band Released Release rate (%) Population in sentence length band Released Release rate (%) Population in sentence length band Released Release rate (%) Total 55,370 20,525 37 57,551 21,223 37 55,810 19,294 35 All cases to less than 12 months 30,574 10,680 35 32,098 10,533 33 32,012 10,205 32 3 months to less than 4 months 6,439 1,695 26 6,605 1,619 25 6,592 1,419 22 4 months to less than 6 months 11,876 4,055 34 13,228 4,299 32 13,293 4,210 32 6 months to less than 8 months 7,843 2,956 38 7,606 2,679 35 7,568 2,659 35 8 months to less than 12 months 4,416 1,974 45 4,659 1,936 42 4,559 1,917 42 12 months to less than 4 years 24,796 9,804 40 25,453 10,690 42 23,798 9,089 38
Population in sentence length band Released Release rate (%) Population in sentence length band Released Release rate (%) Population in sentence length band Released Release rate (%) Total 54,616 17,296 32 52,987 13,666 26 53,835 11,428 21 All cases to less than 12 months 30,273 8,507 28 29,389 6,114 21 29,372 4,545 15 3 months to less than 4 months 6,440 1,068 17 6,474 722 11 6,613 358 5 4 months to less than 6 months 12,426 3,452 28 11,722 2,243 19 11,178 1,430 13 6 months to less than 8 months 7,158 2,336 33 6,915 1,777 26 6,788 1,442 21 8 months to less than 12 months 4,249 1,651 39 4,278 1,372 32 4,793 1,315 27 12 months to less than 4 years 24,343 8,789 36 23,598 7,552 32 24,463 6,883 28