Prisoners: Females

(asked on 10th March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar on 2 February (HL5530) concerning the average distance from home for prisoners in female and male prisons, what is the reason for the discrepancy between the figures provided and the figure in table 5.1a of the Female Offender Strategy supporting data tables.


This question was answered on 24th March 2022

The reason for the difference between figures provided in the response to HL5530 and table 5.1a of the Female Offender Strategy supporting data tables is a change in methodology.

The figures provided in table 5.1a were calculated using travelling distance (i.e. the distance of a road journey between 2 destinations). From 2019, the methodology used to extract information on prisoners’ distance from home changed to the straight-line distance approach used in the answer to HL5530 and other similar questions.

Straight-line modelling is the most consistent calculation method. Attempts to model based on travelling distance are subject to significant temporal and geographical variation (e.g. inner city travel time).

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