BROMLEY BRIEFINGS PRISON FACTFILE - Prison Reform Trust

In 2006-07, 30% of suicides in custodywere committed by remand prisoners. 101Remand prisoners are more likely thansentenced prisoners to have a history ofliving in unstable or unsuitableaccommodation. Research by the NationalAssociation for the Care and Resettlement ofOffenders (Nacro) has suggested they are fivetimes more likely to have lived in a hostelprior to imprisonment. 102More than two in three of all prisonersare unemployed when they go to jail. Butresearch by Nacro has found that remandprisoners are less likely than sentencedprisoners to have had a job before prison.The minority of remand prisoners who dohave jobs are very likely to lose them while inprison. 103Remand population by offence type (October 2007) 107Offence groupTotalViolence against the person 3,291Drugs offences 1,874Other 1,813Burglary 1,411Robbery 1,352Theft and Handling 929Sexual offences 819Not recorded 807Fraud and Forgery 557Motoring offences 143One in four men and half of all women onremand receive no visits from theirfamily. 104Prisoners on remand are half as likely tohave received advice on resettlement thansentenced prisoners, 105 and will receive nodischarge grant.Research by the Prison Reform Trust hasfound that prisons are failing to equipremand prisoners to prepare for trial. Thestudy found that only 48% of prison librariesin jails holding remand prisoners stock thestandard legal texts that under Prison Serviceregulations they must provide. 106101. Hansard, House of Commons written answers, 11 June 2007102. Nacro (2000) Prisoner Resettlement Surveys, Unpublished103. Ibid.104. Social Exclusion Unit (2002) Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners, London: Social Exclusion Unit105. Ibid.106. Ruthven, D and Seward, E (2002), Restricted Access: Legal Information for Remand Prisoners, London: Prison Reform Trust.107. Ministry of Justice, Population in Custody, England and Wales, October 2007www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk 13