Written Answer
Prison Sentences And Country Of Birth
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give an analysis of sentenced prisoners in prison department establishments in
| Sentenced prisoners' in prison department establishments in England and Wales on 30th April 1982: by type of sentence and country of birth | ||||||||
| Country of birth | ||||||||
| Sentence length and type | UK | Commonwealth | Other2 | Not recorded | Total | |||
| Imprisonment: | ||||||||
| Up to and including 1 year | … | … | … | 8,600 | 400 | 500 | 800 | 10,300 |
| Over 1 year and up to and including 2 years | … | … | … | 5,800 | 400 | 300 | 200 | 6,700 |
| Over 2 years and up to and including 5 years | … | … | … | 6,600 | 500 | 400 | 300 | 7,700 |
| Over 5 years and including life | … | … | … | 3,400 | 300 | 300 | 100 | 4,100 |
| Borstal training | … | … | … | 4,800 | 100 | 100 | 300 | 5,300 |
| Detention center | … | … | … | 2,200 | ߞ | ߞ | 200 | 2,400 |
| TOTAL | … | … | … | 31,400 | 1,700 | 1,600 | 1,900 | 36,500 |
| (1)Figures rounded independently and may not therefore add to totals. | ||||||||
| (2)Including the Republic of Ireland and Pakistan. | ||||||||
Mr Jayprakash Patel
asked Her Majesty's Government:When the Minister of State at the Home Office expects to be able to answer letters of 23rd December,
Life Sentence Prisoners: Homicide Convictions
asked Her Majesty's Government:How many life sentence prisoners convicted on charges of homicide had served more than 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 years respectively as at 1st June 1982; how many of these prisoners in
| Persons in prison department establishments in England and Wales on 30th April 1982 serving sentences of life imprisonment for offences of murder or manslaughter having been first received under sentence more than 10 years previously: by security category and by time since initial reception under sentence | ||||||||||
| Number(1) | ||||||||||
| Security category | ||||||||||
| Time since initial reception into a prison department establishment under sentence(2) | A | B | C | D | Not recorded | Total | ||||
| Over 10 up to and including 11 years | … | … | … | … | 3 | 23 | 9 | 18 | 1 | 54 |
| Over 11 up to and including 12 years | … | … | … | … | 2 | 20 | 5 | 15 | 1 | 43 |
| Over 12 up to and including 13 years | … | … | … | … | 1 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 30 |
| Over 13 up to and including 14 years | … | … | … | … | 3 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 2 | 34 |
| Over 14 up to and including 15 years | … | … | … | … | — | 6 | 2 | 15 | — | 23 |
| Over 15 up to and including 16 years | … | … | … | … | 3 | 6 | 7 | 3 | — | 19 |
| Over 16 up to and including 17 years | … | … | … | … | — | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 18 |
| Over 17 up to and including 18 years | … | … | … | … | — | — | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Over 18 up to and including 19 years | … | … | … | … | — | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Over 19 up to and including 20 years | … | … | … | … | — | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Over 20 years | … | … | … | … | 1 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 25 |
| … | … | … | … | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| TOTAL | … | … | … | … | 13 | 93 | 57 | 86 | 15 | 264 |
| (1)The figures are those recorded centrally and are approximate: detailed checking of individual cases would involve disproportionate cost. | ||||||||||
| (2)Includes time spent on licence by 41 persons who had been recalled after being released on licence. | ||||||||||
England and Wales on 30th April, by type of sentence and country of birth, similar to the analysis given last year ( Official Report, 19th October 1981, column 683).
The information available is given in the following table:1st March, 5th March and 5th April about the application of Mr. Jayprakash Patel to enter the United Kingdom as an independent businessman.
My right honourable friend the Minister of State wrote to the noble Lord on 14th June.each case were in each security category, and how many in each case had protested their innocence since their conviction.
The information readily available is given in the following table. No information is available about the number of prisoners who have protested their innocence since conviction.
Rastafarianism: Religious Recognition In Prison
asked Her Majesty's Government:What advice they have received, on what dates, from the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church on the recognition of Rastafarianism as a religion within the prisons of England and Wales; and whether they will now reach a favourable decision on this matter.
We have not received advice from the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church as such, but we have had the benefit of views from the Church of England Board for Social Responsibility and the Catholic Commission for Racial Justice, which are advisory only to their respective Churches. Advice has also been received from the senior Church of England and Roman Catholic members of the Prison Service Chaplaincy.A representative of the Board for Social Responsibility visited the Prison Department on 1st March this year and presented a report entitled,
The Church of England and Racism (published in October 1981). This recommended that within prisons Rastafari should be recognised as an authentic religious belief and its adherents treated accordingly.
Members of the Catholic Commission for Racial Justice attended a similar meeting on 7th April to discuss the recommendations in the commission's report Rastafarians in Jamaica and Britain (January 1982) that Rastafari should be recognised as a valid religion and that Rastafarians in penal institutions should be allowed the same privileges as are accorded to other religious believers. These views will be considered together with those of the other interested parties consulted. A final decision has not yet been reached.
Broadcasting Transmission Times
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, given the wide public interest in news bulletins, they will request the BBC to follow the good example of ITN in not changing their transmission times so frequently.
No; the timing of news bulletins, like other programming matters, is the responsibility of the broadcasting authorities, who no doubt take due account of comments such as the noble Lord's.
Textile Imports For 1981
asked Her Majesty's Government:Why figures for textile imports in 1981 are not yet available, particularly in view of the current negotiations on the Multi-Fibre Agreement where accurate records of what has transpired in previous years are essential to any realistic assessments of future quotas, the increasing number of countries involved and the serious contraction of the textile industry throughout the EEC.
Disruption of the normal provision of statistics resulted from last year's Civil Service strike and caused a considerable backlog in the amount of information awaiting processing. The Government decided to resume publication of figures of current trade as the first priority and to catch up with the backlog as fast as available resources permitted. Consideration was given to the special needs of the textile industry and other industries on whose behalf representations were made. Unfortunately picking out particular industries for special processing would have resulted in further delay both in processing the backlog and producing current figures. On imports, only the figures for July and August 1981 now remain outstanding and HM Customs and Excise hope to publish those by the end of July. Negotiation of new bilateral agreements under the Multi-Fibre Arrangement has not been significantly hampered by the lack of statistics.House adjourned at ten minutes past ten o'clock.