§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the future of Risley as a training prison, with particular reference to the integrated regime.
§ 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. Doug Hoyle, dated 18 October 1993: 150W
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the future of Risley as a training prison and in particular its integrated regime.You may be aware of the decision to accommodate 384 vulnerable prisoners in refurbished blocks at Wymott. This was announced by the then Home Secretary in Autumn 1992, in accordance with recommendations made by the Chief Inspector of Prisons. The change was scheduled for November 1993, but is being implemented slightly earlier as a consequence of the recent riot. The transfer of vulnerable prisoners will create additional accommodation in prisons in the north west and midlands. A significant proportion of these prisoners will be drawn from Vulnerable Prisoner Units at Liverpool and Risley.The integrated regime at Risley has been successful in allowing Vulnerable Prisoners to share daytime activities with selected prisoners from the main prison. Clearly, the future development of the integrated regime will depend on the number of vulnerable prisoners remaining at Risley. The Prison Service intends to provide a full regime for those prisoners transferred to Wymott based on a core programme for sex offenders to address their offending behaviour.For the present Risley will continue in its present role as a training prison. The development of its future role as a local prison serving the courts is being discussed and plans are being considered for a multi-functional community prison along the lines envisaged in the Woolf Report. Such plans will aim to provide decent conditions and a regime of purposeful activity for all prisoners.