Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average distance was between an offender's home address and the (a) female or (b) male prison they were sent to in each year since 2010.

There are complex and wide-ranging issues involved in transferring and locating prisoners, and allocation decisions must reflect both the specific needs and circumstances of the prisoner, including their security assessment, as well as the operating environment and range of services at the receiving prison.

HMPPS is committed to ensuring, where practicable and appropriate, that prisoners are accommodated as close as possible to their resettlement communities and families. Whilst this is a priority, it is not always possible due to a variety of factors, for example where prisoners have specific sentence planning needs which can only be met at certain establishments.

A year-by-year summary of average distance from home, in miles, for all prisoners in female and male prisons and Young Offenders Institutes (YOIs) is listed below. This includes 15-17 year olds living in YOIs. Distances are measured in a straight line between the home address and the prison/YOI currently holding the prisoner, rather than the prison/YOI they were initially sent to.