§ 69. Mr. Moyleasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what decision he has reached on the Report of the Advisory Council on the Penal System on the régime for long-term prisoners in conditions of maximum security.
§ Mr. CallaghanI have decided to accept the recommendation of the Advisory Council on the Penal System that high security risk prisoners serving long sentences should be dispersed among selected prisons. Under the scheme these prisoners will not be kept isolated as a group but will be detained with other prisoners requiring secure conditions.
The prisons to be used will have a high standard of security, especially the perimeter, with the result that there can be greater freedom of movement inside than is possible within the present security wings. The necessary security improvements at a number of existing prisons will be sufficently advanced to enable me to start to disperse prisoners from the present security wings by the end of the year. In due course a number of new prisons will become available for this purpose. Two are being planned at Long Lartin, Worcestershire, and Full Sutton, Yorkshire. The present security wings will be phased out as the new arrangements are completed. I have consulted the staff associations before reaching these conclusions.
The decision means that the proposed maximum security prison at Alvington in the Isle of Wight, in which it had been intended to concentrate all high security risk prisoners, will not now be built.