Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners at HMP Wandsworth are serving (a) Imprisonment for Public Protection and (b) Detention for Public Protection sentences.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number and proportion of prisoners in HMP Wandsworth serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and Detention for Public Protection sentences (DPP), as at 31 March 2024, are set out in the table below.
Sentence type | Number of prisoners | Proportion of the total population at HMP Wandsworth |
IPP | 10 | 0.7% |
DPP | 0 | - |
Please note:
(1) IPP prisoners include both unreleased IPP prisoners and recalled IPP prisoners.
(2) DPP is the youth equivalent of the IPP sentence, given to those aged under 18 at the time of conviction.
(3) The figures in this table 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.
We have taken significant action through the Victims and Prisoners Bill to curtail IPP and DPP licence periods to give offenders the opportunity to move on with their lives. In addition to these changes, the actions this Government is taking are working; the number of prisoners serving the IPP sentence, including those serving DPP sentences, who have never been released now stands at 1,180 as of March 2024, down from more than 6000 in 2012.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of foreign national prisoners at HMP Wandsworth are (a) post-sentence awaiting deportation and (b) serving current sentences.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The removal of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) is a Government priority: the Ministry of Justice continues to work closely with the Home Office to maximise the number of deportations.
As of 31 March, 13 FNOs were held under immigration powers after their conditional release date at HMP Wandsworth, while deportation arrangements were being made by the Home Office. This represents 1.8 per cent of the prison’s population. On the same date, 90 FNOs were serving sentences in HMP Wandsworth. This represents 12.8 per cent of the population.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners at HMP Wandsworth have been recalled to custody having been released as part of the early release scheme.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data on End of Custody Supervised Licence will be published when sufficient robust and comprehensive data is available. To support orderly release, its publication will be announced through the gov.uk release calendar.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners at HMP Wandsworth have been recalled to custody while on release on temporary licence.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are unable to answer the question about the number of prisoners at HMP Wandsworth that were recalled to custody while on release on temporary licence (ROTL). HMP Wandsworth is a category B, closed prison. There is no expectation that closed prisons deliver ROTL even though some of the population are eligible. Information on which prisoners were recalled to other prisons before moving to HMP Wandsworth is not held centrally. To obtain the data would involve a manual interrogation of prison records which would result in a disproportionate cost to the department.
ROTL from open prisons is preferred as open prisons are set up and have been resourced to deliver ROTL, with the right staff, processes, layout, and general population (i.e., everyone is eligible), and there is an expectation that they deliver ROTL.
Offenders released on temporary licence are subject to strict conditions and risk assessment. Any breaches can result in more time behind bars. By providing opportunities to work, learn and build family ties, temporary release from prison reduces the chances of reoffending. Evidence shows the vast majority abide by their temporary release conditions, with a compliance rate of over 99%.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners at HMP Wandsworth are awaiting dispersal to another category of prison following an assessment.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMP Wandsworth’s main function is to hold unsentenced prisoners while their cases progress through the courts. Once prisoners are sentenced, they are categorised and can then be transferred to a prison with an appropriate security category if required. On 02 May 2024, there were 313 prisoners at Wandsworth who had been categorised as B, C or D, 20% of Wandsworth’s total population. The number of these who are currently awaiting transfer is not centrally collated, as some will be due for release from Wandsworth itself and some will be currently unable to transfer for other reasons such as completing programmes or medical conditions.
There are complex and wide-ranging issues involved in transferring and locating prisoners, and allocation decisions must reflect both the specific needs and circumstances of the prisoner, including their security assessment, as well as the operating environment and range of services at the receiving prison. How these considerations apply in individual cases is not recorded in centrally collated data.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners at HMP Wandsworth who have been sentenced are awaiting prison category assessment.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As of Monday 29 April 2024, 54 prisoners at HMP Wandsworth who had been sentenced were awaiting prison category assessment. This represents 3.6 per cent of the prison’s total population and 15.9 per cent of sentenced offenders at the prison.
Categorisation reviews ensure that, throughout their sentences, prisoners are assigned to the security category most appropriate for managing their risk. An initial security category assessment is conducted within 10 working days of sentencing, to facilitate transfer to an appropriate prison.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners at HMP Wandsworth who have been convicted are awaiting sentencing.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As of 31 March 2024, there were 139 prisoners at HMP Wandsworth who have been convicted and are awaiting sentencing. The proportion of HMP Wandsworth prisoners who have been convicted and are awaiting sentencing as of 31 March 2024 was 18.8% of the convicted population. These 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.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners at HMP Wandsworth are on remand awaiting trial; and what is the average length of time such prisoners have been on remand.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As of 31 March 2024, there were 785 prisoners at HMP Wandsworth on remand awaiting trial, 51.1% of its total population. These 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.
Information relating to the time spent on custodial remand is not centrally held by the Ministry of Justice. To obtain the data to answer this part of the question would involve a manual interrogation of court records which would result in a disproportionate cost to the department.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when and with whom he has had discussions on conditions in HMP Wandsworth in the last six months.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As the responsible minister for prisons, I receive regular updates on their conditions and performance, including those at HMP Wandsworth, via a variety of means, including through formal face to face discussion such as the quarterly Ministerial Performance Review Board meetings. Additionally, the Lord Chancellor and I met Keith Bristow on 16 November 2023 regarding Mr Bristow’s independent investigation into the alleged escape from HMP Wandsworth by Daniel Khalife. I most recently met with and discussed the conditions at HMP Wandsworth with the Governor of HMP Wandsworth on 18 March 2024, as part of one of my regular roundtable forums with prison governors.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average weekly time out of cell for prisoners in HMP Wandsworth has been for each week in 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Prison governors set a regime for each day specifying when prisoners will ordinarily be unlocked. There will be occasions, however, where certain prisoners will remain in their cell during these times. Reasons for this will include illness, the management of operational incidents, and other operational reasons such as staff needing to be deployed to other duties. There will also be occasions where prisoners will be out of cell at times when they are scheduled to be locked in, for example to attend medical appointments at hospital, a late arrival from court, or a transfer between prisons.
To accurately record the amount of time prisoners spend out of cell, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service would therefore be required to record information for each individual prisoner, taking into account their unique movements on a daily basis.
There is no central mandate which governs the amount of time that prisoners should spend out of their cells. Governors are instead afforded the flexibility to deliver balanced regimes that maintain an appropriate level of time out of cell on a range of activities, including association, which meet the needs of the establishment’s population.