Justice written question – answered at on 30 June 2014.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours per week prisoners in HM Prison (a) Blundeston, (b) Brinsford, (c) Bristol, (d) Bullingdon and (e) Bullwood Hall spent in (i) cells and (ii) working.
Up until the end of 2011-12, information was collected on the average hours per weekday that prisoners were unlocked. By subtracting the average hours unlocked from the 24 hours in a day, it is possible to estimate hours spent locked in cell. Figures for each prison establishment for the three years from 2009-10 to 2011-12 have been placed in the Library of the House.
It should be noted that time in cell includes hours when prisoners are asleep. Time unlocked includes time where a prisoner is either out of their cell or where the cell door is unlocked allowing them to move freely in and out of the cell. Figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Time unlocked was discontinued as a performance indicator for prisons at the end of 2011-12 because it was not used in the day-to-day management of prisons and NOMS had concerns over the burden on the front-line of collecting the data. Indicators introduced into prison SLAs in respect of rehabilitation, resettlement and work in prisons provide a better demonstration of efforts to prepare prisoners for release and reduce reoffending. Figures for time in cell for the years 2012-13 and 2013-14 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Work in prisons is a key priority to ensure prisoners are engaged purposefully while they are in custody. It also gives them the opportunity to learn skills and a work ethic which can increase their chances of finding employment on release, a key element to reducing reoffending.
The number of prisoners working in industrial activity across public sector prisons increased from around 8,600 in 2010-11 (the first year for which figures are available) to around 9,700 in 2012-13. This delivered an increase in the total hours worked in industrial activities from 10.6 million hours to 13.1 million hours. Private sector prisons have also been supporting this agenda and have reported that they delivered over 1.5 million prisoner working hours in commercial and industrial workshops in 2012-13 which provided work for over 1,200 prisoners. In addition, there are substantial number of prisoners who work to keep prisons running on tasks such as cooking, serving meals, maintenance and cleaning.
Figures for public sector prisons are published in the NOMS Annual Report Management Information Addendum, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225225/mi-addendum.pdf
The establishment-level breakdown of weekly hours worked is not available centrally for 2011-12 and 2012-13 and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Our reforms to the incentives and earned privileges national policy framework came into effect in adult prisons on
Yes0 people think so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.