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Scottish Office

Answer

Sir Robert Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the current prison population per capita is in Scotland; what the comparable figures are in (a) England and Wales, (b) France, (c) Germany, (d) the Republic of Ireland and (e) the United States of America; what is the OECD average; and if he will make a statement. [60449] Mr. McLeish: The available information is provided in the table. An average figure for OECD countries is not available: comparisons between different jurisdictions have to be treated with caution because of the differences in definitions and recording methods used. Prison population and rate per 100,000 population by country as at 1 September 1997 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Country Number Rate per 100,000 population{1} Scotland{2} 6,082 119 England and Wales{3,4} 61,940 120 France{5} 54,442 90 Germany{6} 71,047 87 Ireland (Eire) 2,424 67 USA 1,725,842 645 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Based on estimates of national population {2} Average daily population for September 1997 {3} At 31 August 1997 {4} Includes prisoners held in police cells {5} Metropolitan and overseas departments {6} Data relate to 1996 {7} At 30 June 1997

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

319 c871W; 60449

Session

1997-98

Subjects

England Germany France Prisoners Prisons OECD countries Population Scotland Republic of Ireland Wales USA

Contains statistics

Yes