Prisons

(asked on 11th September 2018) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons in England and Wales have operated at a level above their certified normal accommodation in each of the last seven years.


Answered by
 Portrait
Rory Stewart
This question was answered on 9th October 2018

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) publishes monthly individual prison population and capacity information through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-population-statistics

The following table identifies each prison in England and Wales which has operated with a population above its Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA) on the last working Friday in any month in each of the last seven years.

CNA, or uncrowded capacity, is the Prison Service’s own measure of accommodation. It represents the good, decent standard of accommodation that the Service aspires to provide all prisoners. CNA differs to the Operational Capacity of a prison which is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. Although CNA is ideal in practice it has in many cases not been possible for the last two decades due to the significant population growth.

Where the Operational Capacity of a prison is higher than the CNA it will be classed as having the potential to be crowded, which can mean prisoners share cells. In the financial year 2017/18, 24.2% of the prison population was being held in crowded conditions, down from 24.5% in the previous year.

We have an ambitious plan to reduce prison crowding by introducing new places that are safe, decent, and uncrowded. In February 2017 HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Berwyn was opened which, when full, will provide 2,100 uncrowded prison places. The government has also committed to building up to 10,000 decent prison places which will provide the physical conditions for Governors to achieve better educational, training and rehabilitative outcomes.

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