§ Lord Graham of Edmontonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will confirm that young people aged 15–20 years on remand at Thorp Arch Remand Centre are being sent to adult prisons at Leeds and Hull with no guarantee that they will be separated from adult prisoners, and whether they will specify the alternative ways of dealing with young offenders.
§ Lord GlenarthurThe under 21 year-old population hitherto accommodated in HM Remand Centre Thorp Arch will henceforward be divided between HM Prison Leeds and HM Prison and Remand Centre Hull. Those in Hull will be held in a discrete unit; this will hold all those aged under 17 previously in Thorn Arch. Those in Leeds will be held in exactly the same conditions as those previously held in Leeds for lack of places in Thorn Arch, every effort being made to keep them separate from adults though it cannot be guaranteed that they will be kept apart at all times.
The changes form part of a package designed to relieve the acute overcrowding at Leeds by converting Hull from a dispersal prison to a local prison and remand centre and Thorn Arch from a remand centre to an adult training prison. Various other options were considered but none was suitable.