§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who decides whether a convicted prisoner is placed in an open or closed prison.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
letter from D. Lewis to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 2 December 1993;
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about who decides whether a convicted prisoner is placed in an open or closed prison.Decisions about security category, including whether or not to place a prisoner in open conditions, are taken by the governor 664W holding the prisoner except in the case of category A prisoners and transfer of life sentence prisoners to open conditions. Decisions about category A prisoners are made at Prison Service headquarters. Life sentence prisoners may be moved to open prisons as part of their pre-discharge preparation. The decision to make a recommendation for such a transfer is taken at Prison Service headquarters and then referred for decision to Ministers.The criteria and procedures to be used in reaching decisions are set out in Circular Instructions 7/1988 and 2/1991, copies of which I recently sent to you and which are also available in the House of Commons Library.