§ 41. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the reasons why he will not now remove all unconvicted and untried persons in prison on remand from closed prisons and place them into open prisons, and place the tried and convicted persons in open prisons into the cells so vacated.
§ Mr. MellorIn cases where bail is not granted, the prison service is under a specific obligation to the courts to hold defendants in custody and produce them again in court as directed. This obligation could not properly be discharged if remand prisoners were placed in open establishments with minimum physical security. In addition, open establishments lack the facilities needed for remand prisoners and are in general inconveniently situated for access to the courts and for visits by legal advisers. They do however fulfil an important role in relation to that part of the sentenced population which does not require to be held in conditions of security.