Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison-to-prison transfers have been completed in each of the last five years by (a) the Police, (b) the Prison Service and (c) private contractors.
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) use private contractors to transfer prisoners across the prison estate. A breakdown of the numbers of transfers that took place in the last five years is set out in the table below.
Prison-to-prison transfers by private contractors between 2014 – September 2019.
Year | Prison-to-prison transfers by private contractors |
2014 | 70,625 |
2015 | 69,190 |
2016 | 69,556 |
2017 | 65,351 |
2018 | 62,971 |
2019 (January – September) | 48,152 |
The police do not conduct prison-to-prison transfers. Information on transfers conducted by HMPPS is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service will continue to closely monitor the performance of all providers and we will not hesitate to take action where standards fall short.