HC Deb 07 November 1968 vol 772 cc1062-4
6. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he now has for the accommodation of men and women prisoners needing conditions of top security.

Mr. Callaghan

I would refer my hon. Friend to the statement I made about the detention of male prisoners in this category in reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, North-East (Mr. Bradley) on 24th October. The small number of women prisoners who are in Category A will continue to be detained at Holloway.—[Vol. 770, c. 333–4.]

Mrs. Short

Would not my right hon. Friend accept the view that it is only a very small proportion of women prisoners who need conditions of top security, or who need closed prison conditions at all? Will he consider alternatives which could be used and which would keep a woman within her own home and her own family, so releasing existing women's prison accommodation to relieve the overcrowding of male prisons?

Mr. Callaghan

I am glad to say that there are only four women in Category A and I do not think that I could recommend that they should be dispersed to their own families. They are not isolated, but are with several others in one wing of Holloway Prison.

Mr. Carlisle

As men's prisons are a matter of major importance, may I urge on the right hon. Gentleman the importance of pressing on as quickly as possible with providing a sufficient number of maximum security prisons so that dispersal of those now in security wings could be carried out?

Mr. Callaghan

Yes, Sir. I accept that and I hope that during the course-of the next 12 to 18 months some of the Category A prisoners will be transferred to Gartree, Leicestershire, Hull and Albany in the Isle of Wight as security in these establishments improves. Work is, well advanced on the new wing at Chelmsford Prison which I hope will also pro-vide additional accommodation.

7. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to introduce more modern locking and unlocking methods in prisons under his control.

The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Elystan Morgan)

Electrical locking and unlocking systems have now been tried out successfully in an existing prison. Similar systems will be provided in all new security prisons and any existing ones which have to be substantially reconstructed.

Mrs. Short

I thank my hon. Friend for that encouraging reply. As prison officers now spend so much of their working day simply locking and unlocking doors, will he take all steps to bring about the introduction of electronic devices so that prison officers can use their time more profitably on rehabilitation work?

Mr. Morgan

I am aware that my hon. Friend has served on the Sub-Committee on Social Affairs and I am aware of that Sub-Committee's recommendations about time and motion study.

33. Mr. Peel

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken, or proposes to take, to increase security in prisons following the recent attempt to escape by certain prisoners in the top security wing of Leicester Prison which was so nearly successful.

Mr. Callaghan

This escape attempt was prevented, but it pointed to the need for high-quality staff, better training courses and some further modifications in security procedures. Action on these matters is in hand and work is well advanced on the programme of major improvements to the perimeter security of closed prisons.

Mr. Peel

In view of the fact not only that this escape was prevented by sheer good luck but that there were further escapes from Durham Prison three months later, does not the Home Secretary agree that it is necessary to look again at the recommendation of the Mountbatten Report that there should be a separate top-security prison?

Mr. Callaghan

I have already answered a Question about that this afternoon. I do not agree with the hon. Member's analysis.

Mr. Carlisle

In view of the fact that since then there has been a successful escape from the security wing in Durham, may I ask the Home Secretary whether he has received a report on that escape and whether, following that report, he is satisfied with the present arrangements for security in these wings?

Mr. Callaghan

The hon. Member has a later Question down on that matter. As he knows, I put out a statement about the escape as soon as we had discovered the reasons for it. I must point out to the House that we have the continuing, ever-present difficulty of balancing perfect security against a humane régime. It is very difficult to combine both, but I am sure that it is the correct policy to try to do so.