Mr. PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria are used in deciding whether a person convicted of theft should serve all or part of his sentence in an open prison. [18401]
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility 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 Derek Lewis to Mr. Gordon Prentice, dated 18 April 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the criteria used in deciding whether a person convicted of theft should serve all or part of his sentence in an open prison.The type of establishment to which a sentenced adult male prisoner is allocated depends on his security category which is decided on the basis of the level of risk he is assessed to present. Only those adult male prisoners placed in category D, the lowest security category, are allocated to open prisons.The criteria and procedures to be used in decisions on the categorisation and allocation of adult male prisoners are set out in Circular Instruction 7/1988 and the Prison Service Manual on Security, copies of which are available in the Library of the House. Security category assessment is a continuous responsibility of Prison Service staff both at establishments, in the case of prisoners categorised B, C and D, and at headquarters, in the case of Category A prisoners.The criteria and procedures for the allocation of sentenced females and young offenders are set out in Circular Instruction 2/1991, a copy of which is also available in the Library of the House. These prisoners, apart from those who are considered to warrant category A conditions, are not categorised but are allocated to either closed or open conditions according to their level of risk.