§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 18 October,Official Report, c. 29, if he will give the reasons why he will not ensure that the former Detective Chief Inspector Cuthbert is imprisoned in a closed prison rather than being sent to an open prison.
§ Mr. MayhewIt is not prison department policy to use allocation and categorisation procedures for punitive purposes. An inmate is given a security classification which influences his prison location and reflects, for example, an assessment of the likelihood of his escaping and the danger he would present should he do so. Placing inmates in conditions of greater security than necessary would be wasteful of resources and would not improve overcrowding in closed local prisons.