Prisoners: Wales
(asked on 7th March 2018) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) male and (b) female people ordinarily resident in England who were serving custodial sentences in Wales in each of the last 10 years.
The table below sets out the number of sentenced prisoners held in Wales with an origin address in England since 2009. No data is available for 2008. As there are no female prisons in Wales the table only shows the number of male sentenced prisoners.
Quarter 1 | Male sentenced prisoners in Welsh prisons with origin addresses outside Wales | Total Prison Population | Percentage of total population made up of male sentenced prisoners in Welsh prisons with origin addresses outside Wales |
2009 | 360 | 82,772 | 0.43% |
2010 | 385 | 85,009 | 0.45% |
2011 | 453 | 85,137 | 0.53% |
2012 | 428 | 86,980 | 0.49% |
2013 | 396 | 83,842 | 0.48% |
2014 | 412 | 85,509 | 0.48% |
2015 | 482 | 86,193 | 0.56% |
2016 | 475 | 85,134 | 0.56% |
2017 | 866 | 85,863 | 1.01% |
The data are based on snapshots and do not provide an indication of all prisoners with origin addresses in England who have served/are serving custodial sentences between 2009 and 2017. Furthermore, the data should not be taken to be representative of prisoners who identify as Welsh/English. When allocating prisoners to suitable establishments closeness to home is one of a number of factors considered. We also consider other factors such as length of sentence, security category and offending behaviour requirements. On occasion the offence itself may dictate location, with (for example) sex offenders mainly being held in prisons where they can receive specialist treatment.
All data shown are based on the prison population at either May or June of each representative year. This tool has been designed for high level analytical purposes only. The detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. While the figures shown have been checked as far as practicable, they should be regarded as approximate and not necessarily accurate to the last whole number shown in the tables. They are fit to be used for comparing the relative magnitude of components.
Around 97% of prisoners have origin locations. Those with no origin are typically foreign nationals or recently received into custody and have been excluded from this table.
The Ministry of Justice is undertaking a programme of large scale prison reform which includes modernising the prison estate, closing older prisons that are not fit for purpose and creating in their place high-quality, rehabilitative establishments. As part of this programme we have started to redevelop the prisons at Glen Parva (Leicestershire) and Wellingborough (Northamptonshire); and we are building a new houseblock at Stocken prison (Rutland).