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Prison Accommodation: Sussex

Volume 502: debated on Monday 7 December 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoner places are available at each prison serving the Sussex area when at full capacity; and how many prisoners were serving sentences at each such prison on the latest date for which figures are available. (304758)

The following table gives the numbers of prisoners serving sentences in the two prison establishments in Sussex at the end of June 2009, the latest date for which figures are available:

Establishment

Ford

Lewes

Operational capacity

557

723

Sentenced population

529

451

Held on remand and civil offenders

0

213

Total held in custody

529

664

Places available

28

59

The operational capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by area managers on the basis of operational judgment and experience.

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.