Receptions and Admissions

The total number of first receptions between July and September 2023 was 19,028 – 20% higher than the same quarter in 2022. The number of first receptions have now exceeded levels observed pre-pandemic, which were around 17,000 to 18,000 per quarter.

There were 3,342 first receptions of foreign nationals between July and September 2023, which is 21% higher compared to the same period in 2022. The representation of foreign nationals amongst first receptions has remained the same since 2020, at around 18%. The five foreign nationalities with the highest numbers of first receptions in the latest quarter were: Albanian (534), Romanian (355), Polish (337), Irish (135), and Lithuanian (113). When taken together, these five nationalities accounted for 44% of the 3,342 first receptions of foreign nationals in Q3 (July to September) 2023.

Compared to the same quarter in 2022, both remand and recall admissions increased. Untried remand admissions increased by 21%, while convicted unsentenced remand admissions rose by 39%. Recall admissions were up 19%.

The remand figures reflect an ever-growing national scandal. The December 2023 remand population figure of 16,005 is 13% higher than in December 2022 and is the highest December figure in at least the last fifty years. The untried prison population rose by 13% (to 10,487) when compared to the end of December 2022 whilst the convicted unsentenced population rose by 14% (to 5,518) over the same period.

Releases on Home Detention Curfews

In June 2023 the maximum length of time an individual could be released early on HDC increased from 135 days to 180 days. This has resulted in large increases in the number of people eligible for HDC.

Somewhat unbelievably, there were 1,783 offenders released on HDC in the latest quarter, a decrease of 20% compared to the same period last year. The number of offenders who might have been eligible for HDC (based on sentence length) over the same period was up 10% (11,136) compared to the same quarter in 2022.

Adjudications

There were 53,087 adjudication outcomes between July and September 2023.

This is an increase of 35% on the same quarter in the previous year. Additional days were awarded as punishment on 1,177 occasions in this quarter. Two thirds (65%) of adjudications were proven.

There was a 34% increase in the number of proven adjudications (to 34,484) from the same quarter in 2022. This in turn resulted in a 38% rise in the number of punishments (to 62,054).

A third (32%) of proven adjudications were for offences of ‘disobedience and disrespect’, with the next largest category being ‘unauthorised transactions’ (30%).

Licence recalls

The number of licence recalls between July and September 2023 was 7,030, of which 385 were recalls from Home Detention Curfew (HDC).

The total number of recalls increased by 13% compared to the same quarter in 2022. There usually is more than one reason for recalling an offender on licence. Of recalls in July-September 2023, about 26% involved a charge of further offending, 76% involved non-compliance, 33% involved failure to keep in touch, and 27% involved failure to reside.
Between July and September 2023, 100 IPP prisoners and 50 prisoners serving a life sentence were rereleased, having previously been returned to custody for a breach of licence conditions. The total of these releases is unchanged from the same quarter a year ago.

I had not realised that the (re-)unification of the probation service also resulted in people being recalled under a different set of requirements than those operated by the Community Rehabilitation Companies; this appears to be part of the explanation for such a large increase in the number of people recalled.

Conclusion

Offender Management Statistics are published quarterly and are an up-to-date source of key information about the state of our prison service. I’m afraid it has been a long time since I analysed an edition which offered hope for the future.