asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many prisoners had their sentences increased in each of the past five years as a result of contravening prison rules. [HL4678]

Prisoners found guilty of offences against prison discipline under the prison rules may receive any of a range of punishments including, in more serious cases, up to 42 additional days in custody, imposed by an independent adjudicator. Data on punishments imposed at adjudications are published annually in chapter 9 of Offender Management Caseload Statistics, available on the Ministry of Justice website at www.iustice.gov.uk/docs/omcs2006pdf. The numbers of prisoners who received the punishment of additional days in 2005 and 2006 were 7,630 and 7,828 respectively. Numbers by prisoner for earlier years are not available but the total number of punishments of additional days imposed for the years 2002 to 2006 are given in the table.