Written question asked by Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party) on Tuesday, 16 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 March 2010. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Monday, 22 March 2010 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Youth Custody

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) young adults and (b) women were serving a custodial sentence in prison in Northern Ireland in (i) January 2010, (ii) January 2009 and (iii) January 2008.

Answer

The information for the last Monday in each month is provided in the following table.

	Young offenders serving a sentence	Women serving a sentence
25 January 2008	77	21
26 January 2009	85	18
28 January 2010	83	16

Young Offenders are defined as being aged 18 to 21 years. Upon attaining 21 years they are deemed to be adults and can be sent to an adult prison.

Secondary information