Prisoners (Hansard, 3 February 1995)

§ Mr. Michael Forsyth

Responsibility 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. George Howarth, dated 3 February 1995: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about progress on recommendations made by the Chief Inspector of Prisons in respect of the use of secure accommodation to facilitate the control of category C prisoners. The Chief Inspector recommended that the Prison Service should develop a coherent policy towards the control of prisoners in category C prisons making better use of the secure accommodation in some establishments. In response to the Chief Inspector's recommendations, a review of control in category C prisons has been completed. This included an analysis of the effects of the population mix on the risk to good order in category C prisons and an assessment of the control capability of each individual category C establishment. The research identified that the presence of a high proportion of certain types of category C prisoners will make serious disturbances more likely. New allocation procedures for category C prisoners were introduced in October 1994 to take account of this analysis. All category C prisons were placed in one of four groups depending on the combination of design and architectural features affecting control capability. Guidelines on the maximum proportion of potentially disruptive prisoners have been set for each group of prisons and the population mix at each establishment is now regularly monitored. We have also increased the provision of cellular accommodation within the category C estate at Moorland (310 places), Buckley Hall (350 places) and Guys Marsh (120 places). No new dormitory or cubicular accommodation will be commissioned for category C use. This is in line with the Chief Inspector's recommendations.