Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average number of miles that women in prison aged (1) 18 to 24, and (2) 25 years or older, are held from their home address.

As of 5th November 2021, 308 women aged 18-24 years old were held on average 41.7 miles away from their origin address; 2,903 aged 25 and over were held on average 45.6 miles away from their origin address.

In instances where no address was recorded in the central database, an offender’s committal court address has been used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident. Of a total population of 3,232 women, 21 did not have a home address or suitable court address recorded. These prisoners are typically foreign nationals or those recently received into custody.

This information has been drawn from administrative IT systems, which as with any large scale recording system are subject to possible error with data entry and processing.

The Female Offender Strategy set out the Government’s vision of fewer women offending and reoffending; fewer women in custody, especially on short-term sentences, with a greater proportion of women managed in the community successfully; and where prison is necessary, better conditions for those in custody.

In January we announced that new facilities, designed to meet the specific needs of women, will be built in existing prisons to increase availability of single cells and improve conditions as part of the 18,000 additional prison places programme. These places will enable us to hold more women closer to home and their families.