asked Her Majesty's Government:

In how many different prisons the average prisoner has been held prior to release in the case of (a) short-term; (b) medium-term; and (c) long-term sentences. [HL851]

Based on a sample of prisoners discharged in 2005, prisoners serving sentences of less than 12 months were on average held in two prison establishments; those serving sentences of 12 months to less than four years were on average held in four prison establishments; and those serving four years or more (including indeterminate sentences) were on average held in seven prison establishments.

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.