§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his Department's policy on the regular movement of prison officers who deal with category A prisoners in prisons in England and Wales.
§ 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.
508WLetter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Tom Cox dated 30 January 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your Question about the policy on the regular movement of prison officers who deal with category A prisoners.Category A prisoners are located in prisons where the majority of prisoners are in lower security categories. Governors rotate staff as they perceive the need to do so.In the case of category A prisoners located in Special Secure Units, the Woodcock enquiry into the escape from Whitemoor recommended that there should be a firm policy for the rotation of staff to reduce the threat of conditioning. The Home Secretary accepted all the Woodcock recommendations and intends to publish a detailed timetable for their implementation shortly.