Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners were held in police cells under Operation Safeguard in each week since 1 December 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
As of 11th January, no prisoners have been housed in police cells as part of Operation Safeguard since it was activated on 30th November 2022.
Police forces across the country use police cells occasionally in normal practice to house prisoners overnight, for example due to late sitting courts.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) male, and (2) female, prisoners are currently serving an extended determinate sentence with a custodial term of (a) less than 12 months, (b) between 12 months and two years, (c) between two and four years, (d) between four and five years, (e) between five and seven years, (f) between seven and 10 years, (g) 10 years to less than 14 years, and (h) 14 years or more.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The table below shows the number of prisoners serving an extended determinate sentence (EDS), by custodial term, and by sex, as at 30 September 2022, in England and Wales:
| Male | Female |
Less than 1 year | 5 | 0 |
1 year to less than 2 years | 8 | 0 |
2 years to less than 4 years | 138 | * |
4 years to less than 5 years | 474 | 23 |
5 years to less than 7 years | 971 | 19 |
7 years to less than 10 years | 1,516 | 18 |
10 years to less than 14 years | 1,871 | 23 |
14 years or more | 1,895 | * |
Sentence length not recorded | 3 | 0 |
The data above shows the custodial term imposed under the extended determinate sentence and therefore the maximum time offenders serving the sentence could spend in custody. Such prisoners may be released after having served two thirds of this custodial term at the discretion of the parole board.
Data sources and quality
The figures in this table 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. Small values marked by an asterisk have been suppressed in the above table to protect the identity of individuals.
Source: Prison NOMIS
PQ HL3588 (Ministry of Justice; Data and Analysis (Directorate))
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the (1) mean, and (2) median, number of months that prisoners serving (a) a life sentence, and (b) an indeterminate sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection, have spent in prison beyond their original tariff.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Government is committed to the protection of the public and the effective management of offenders. By law, a prisoner serving an indeterminate sentence who has completed his/her tariff will be released only when the independent Parole Board concludes that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for the prisoner to remain confined.
The following table shows the (1) mean, and (2) median, number of months that prisoners serving (a) a life sentence, and (b) an indeterminate sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection, have spent in prison beyond their original tariff as at 30 September 2022.
| Over tariff Months | |
Status | Mean | Median |
Unreleased Life | 111 | 93 |
Unreleased IPP | 109 | 113 |
Notes for all figures in the above table:
The figures in these tables 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. Data has been supplied for as many of the requested years as it is possible to provide within cost limits; earlier years may not be available due to changes in recording over time.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals from each ethnic group were in prison in England and Wales in each of the last five years, broken down by religion.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The table attached provides the information requested, as of 30 September in each of the last five years.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government on how many occasions PAVA spray incapacitant has been (1) drawn, and (2) drawn and deployed, in prisons since 1 April 2019, broken down by (a) ethnicity, and (b) religion, of each prisoner.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
We ensure all our prison officers are trained in how to use PAVA professionally, safely and lawfully and that it is only used when necessary and proportionate.
There has been a total of 470 incidents involving PAVA since 1 April 2019. Of those, PAVA was drawn and deployed in 320 incidents and 150 were drawn only. See below for a breakdown by ethnicity and religion.
The data provided for this response is collected as internal management information and reflects the data held at the date of extraction. It is not quality assured in the same way as data prepared for publication and is subject to change.
| From Apr 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | To 22/11/2022 | Total |
Total Number of Incidents: | 55 | 104 | 148 | 163 | 470 |
Total Number of Drawn and Deployed Incidents | 42 | 62 | 103 | 113 | 320 |
Total Number of Drawn only Incidents | 13 | 42 | 45 | 50 | 150 |
Ethnicity:
Ethnicity | Individuals Impacted | Drawn and Deployed | Drawn only |
Asian/Asian British | 64 | 54 | 10 |
Black/Black British | 396 | 316 | 80 |
Mixed | 118 | 85 | 33 |
Other ethnic group | 24 | 19 | 5 |
White | 375 | 255 | 120 |
Not recorded | 8 | 3 | 5 |
Total | 985 | 732 | 253 |
Religion:
* denotes figures less than 5 which have been suppressed to avoid disclosure of information about individuals
Religion | Individuals Impacted | Drawn and Deployed | Drawn only |
Buddhist | * | * | * |
Christian | 431 | 318 | 113 |
Hindu | * | * | * |
Jewish | * | * | * |
Muslim | 279 | 217 | 62 |
Sikh | * | * | * |
Other | 20 | 15 | 5 |
No religion | 236 | 171 | 65 |
Not recorded | 8 | 4 | 4 |
Total | 985 | 732 | 253 |
PAVA is used in incidents such as prisoner on prisoner violence, therefore the number of incidents differs from the number of individuals impacted. Data for 2022 is to date (as of 22/11/22).
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) male, and (2) female, prisoners are currently in prison having been recalled, and are serving a custodial sentence of (a) less than 12 months, (b) between 12 months and two years, (c) between two and four years, (d) between four and five years, (e) between five and seven years, (f) between seven and 10 years, (g) between 10 and 14 years, and (h) 14 years or more.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The answer is given in the table below. In order to protect the public, offenders on licence are liable to be recalled to prison at any time if they breach their licence conditions in such a way as to demonstrate increased risk, such that the risk may no longer be effectively managed in the community.
Table 1: Recall prison population, by recorded sentence length(1) and sex, as at 30 Sep 2022; England & Wales | |||
|
|
|
|
| Total | Male | Female |
|
|
|
|
Total | 10,448 | 10,053 | 395 |
|
|
|
|
Less than 12 months | 680 | 621 | 59 |
12 months to less than 2 years | 911 | 857 | 54 |
2 years to less than 4 years | 2,206 | 2,091 | 115 |
4 years to less than 5 years | 954 | 914 | 40 |
5 years to less than 7 years | 1,315 | 1,281 | 34 |
7 years to less than 10 years | 1,247 | 1,215 | 32 |
10 years to less than 14 years | 639 | 627 | 12 |
14 years or over | 243 | 239 | 4 |
|
|
|
|
Other / Not Recorded(2) | 2,253 | 2,208 | 45 |
NOTES
(1) For recalled prisoners this should correspond with the original sentence length, but there may be cases for which this instead reflects the 'length of recall'
(2) This includes those recalled from indeterminate sentences who do not have a recorded sentence length.
Date Sources and Quality
The figures in these tables 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.
Source: prison-NOMIS (ref. PQ HL3589)
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) people in total, and (2) foreign nationals, are currently in prison, broken down by offence category.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The table below provides the information requested in relation to all prisoners in England and Wales, and to foreign nationals held in prison in England and Wales, by offence group as of 30 September 2022, the latest date for which information is available.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people serving an extended determinate sentence have been released from prison; and of those, how many were released after their first Parole Board hearing in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The table below sets out the number of releases of prisoners serving an extended determinate sentence (EDS) who are eligible for release via parole as part of their EDS in each of the last five years in which full data are available.
Year of Release | Total EDS First-Time Releases | Total EDS Releases at First Hearing |
2017 | 143 | 55 |
2018 | 243 | 116 |
2019 | 352 | 137 |
2020 | 506 | 226 |
2021 | 533 | 220 |
Data sources and quality:
1. Some prisoners were released without accessing the parole process because they were deported or, exceptionally, left prison following early release on compassionate grounds
2. Some parole hearings were not completed as a result of the prisoner receiving a new sentence or being transferred to secure hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983.
3. Total figures in the table do not match published total releases for EDS offenders, as some EDS offenders are not eligible for release via parole as part of their EDS.
4. The figures in this table 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
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are currently in prison aged (1) 18 to 24, and (2) 25 to 29, broken down by ethnicity.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
Relevant data are provided in the statistical publication Ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System. The most recent publication includes a snapshot of data for 30 June 2020. The relevant figures can be found in Table 6.01, which is reproduced in the attachment.
Data for 30 June 2021 and 30 June 2022 will be included in the next publication, which is scheduled for November 2023.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners are currently participating in higher education courses.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The latest available figures (October 2022) show that 1435 prisoners were studying with the Open University. In addition, 50 learners were enrolled on Access to Higher Education courses, with support from the Prisoners’ Education Trust.
We have recently changed the law to allow prisoners to begin apprenticeships whilst in custody, working in key industries such as hospitality and construction.
Information on the support available for prisoners wishing to undertake Higher Education is available in prison libraries.