Average
time spent on purposeful activity per prisoner
was 23 hours per week in 1999, compared with
22.9 in 1998. In open prisons it was much
higher: 42.4 hours for adult males and 44.3
hours for young offenders.
Time
spent unlocked averaged 10.3 hours on weekdays
and 9 hours per day on weekends in 1999, compared
with 10.6 hours and 9.5 hours respectively
in 1998.
Average
time unlocked fell while time spent on purposeful
activities rose slightly compared with last
year.
4,664
completions of offending behaviour programmes
counted towards and exceeded the KPI target
of 3,600 for 1999/2000.
Total
hours of education study increased by 2 per
cent between 1998 and 1999, from 9.5 million
hours to 9.7 million hours.
In
1999/2000, numbers of prisoners employed in
industrial workshops fell by 3.9 per cent
to 8,571 while those employed in agriculture
and horticulture increased by 2.2 per cent
to 1,988.
Releases
on temporary licence rose slightly between
1998 and 1999 - up 293 to 256,179. There were
increases in the number of facility and compassionate
temporary releases while the number of resettlement
releases and local visits fell.
Conditions
12,222
prisoners were held two to a cell designed
for one in 1999/2000, a 2 per cent increase
on the previous year.
In
1999/2000, 14.2 per cent of prisoners tested
positive for drugs under Mandatory Drugs Testing,
compared with 18.3 per cent in 1998/1999 and
20.3 per cent in 1997/1998. Most positive
tests were for cannabis.
There
were 32 escapes from establishments in 1999
(up from 24 in 1998) and 64 escapes from escorts
(up from 62 in 1998), representing an overall
increase of 12 per cent on the preceding year.
Absconds
decreased by 48 per cent between 1993 and
1999, from 1,708 to 880.
Restraints
were used on 1,865 male prisoners and 91 female
prisoners in 1999. The most common form of
restraint was confinement to a special cell.
Body restraints were relatively rarely used
– fewer than 80 times in 1999.
There
were 91self-inflicted deaths in prisons in
1999, compared with 83 in 1998. The rate per
1000 prisoners increased to 1.4 per 1,000
prisoners in custody in 1999, compared to
1.27 per 1000 in 1998 and 1.15 per 1000 in
1997.
Costs
The
cost per uncrowded place for 1999/2000 is
£25,965, a 1.4 per cent increase in real terms
on 1998/1999.
