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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage and number of prisoners, at the latest available date, had previously served a non-custodial sentence; and if he will make a statement. [58455] Mr. Boateng: The most recent available information relates to a sample of sentenced prisoners held in prison on 30 June 1997. The estimated percentage of sentenced prisoners identified as having previous non-custodial sentences is 74 per cent. corresponding to around 36,000 prisoners. Previous criminal history information is, however, derived from matching Prison Service records to offender details of the Home Office Offenders Index and a further 9 per cent. of prisoners could not be matched. A prisoner may not be matched because he or she may have been sentenced for an offence not on the `standard list' and has no previous record for standard list offences or alternatively there may be an inconsistency between personal details held on the Offenders Index and those held on prison records. The percentage of prisoners identified as having no previous non-custodial sentences is 16 per cent. A slightly lower percentage (14 per cent.) of prisoners was identified as having no previous sentence of any kind (i.e. including custodial sentences). Prison population{1} in Prison Service establishments under sentence on 30 June 1997: by past criminal history{2} England and Wales _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Percentage{3} Population 48,674 Previous history not found{4} 9 Previous{2} non-custodial sentence 74 No previous{2} non-custodial sentence 16 No previous{2} sentence of any kind 14 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Excludes fine defaulters and is based on a sample of 13,832 prisoners. {2} Relates to convictions for `standard list' offences only. These offences include all indictable offences and some of the more serious summary offences. {3} Percentages for previous history not found, previous non-custodial sentence and no previous non-custodial sentence do not add to 100 due to rounding. {4} Information on prisoners was matched to records on the Home Office Offenders Index. In some cases no set of matching records can be found.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

319 c42W; 58455

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Alternatives to prison Prisoners Population Reoffenders

Contains statistics

Yes