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Prisoners in police cells

01 November 1991

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The number of prisoners awaiting trial held in police cells has passed 1,500 for the first time since the crisis of 1988. This has led to the re-establishment of the national Mutual Aid Co- Ordinating Centre at Scotland Yard under the command of Essex Assistant Chief Constable Peter Simpson. The Centre is staffed by about ten officers and will allocate prisoners among force areas according to cell space.

The average cost of holding a prisoner in a police cell is £220 a night, which is more than four times the cost of holding someone in prison. For the year 1990-91 the total cost of holding prisoners in police cells in England and Wales was £53.5 million, equivalent to the cost of running five prisons the size of Dartmoor.

The overcrowding has also caused an increased rate in the number of suicides in police custody according to the Howard League for Penal Reform. Of the 38 deaths recorded to August this year nine have been "self-inflicted". This compares with ten out of 61 deaths for the whole of 1990.

Guardian, 30.8.91; Independent, 24.8.91; NACRO news release, 2.9.91; Police Review, 30.8.91

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