§ 17. Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to increase prisoners' rights.
§ Dr. SummerskillWe shall consider any realistic proposals that are put forward.
§ 24. Mr. Whiteheadasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in British prisons are currently on hunger strike; and how many are demanding political status.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsThe answer is based on yesterday's figures. Seven prisoners in England and Wales were persistently refusing all food except water. Of these three had indicated that their refusal to eat was in support of demands commonly associated with the notion of political status. As the House knows, one of these, Frank Stagg, has since died.
§ 30. Mr. Clemitsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the principal criteria followed in the allocation of prisoners, especially those serving long sentence, to various prisons.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe principal criteria are the nature of the offence and the prisoner's past record and hence his security classification; his work and educational experience; his domestic and personal circumstances; his medical and training needs; and the availability of appropriate accommodation.
§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out in the Official Report the arrangements made in his Department for the categorisation of prisoners and the various categories in which prisoners may be graded.
§ Dr. SummerskillPrisoners sentenced to five years or more and all first offenders sentenced to more than four years are assessed by four regional long-term allocation centres. The final decision on a prisoner's security classification, other 277W than Category A, rests with the Regional Director, except for prisoners serving 10 years or more, where the decision has to be confirmed by Prison Department Headquarters.
All other prisoners are assessed by observation and classification units in local prisons and the decision on security classification is taken by the Governor.
The decision to place a prisoner in Category A, or to remove him from it, is always taken by Prison Department Headquarters.
A prisoner's security classification is regularly reviewed.
The four security categories are:
Category A—a prisoner whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public, or police, or to the security of the State.
Category B—a prisoner for whom the very highest conditions of security are not necessary but for whom escape must be made very difficult.
Category C—a prisoner who cannot be trusted in open conditions but who does not have the ability or the resources to make a determined escape attempt.
Category D—those who can be reasonably trusted to serve their sentences in open conditions.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to ascertain how many (a) men and (b) women were awarded loss of remission by a board of visitors in the last year for which figures are available.
§ Dr. SummerskillI regret that the information is not available in the form requested. In the nine months ended 30th September 1975 boards of visitors imposed 347 awards of forfeiture of remission at men's prisons and 28 at women's prisons.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many men and women, respectively, are currently in solitary confinement for disciplinary reasons; and what is the longest length of such confinement.
§ Dr. SummerskillI regret that this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why it is not his practice to keep a central record of awards of punishment to prisoners.
§ Dr. SummerskillCertain central records of the awards of punishment of prisoners are kept and are used annually to provide the statistics given to Parliament in the report of the work of the Prison Department—for 1974, Appendix 6 of Cmnd. 6148 is relevant. We are reviewing the scope of our statistical information in this area. The nature and timing of any changes or extension will be dictated by the needs of management and the availability of resources.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if any distinction is made in practice between convicted men and women prisoners in the number of visits they are allowed.
§ Dr. SummerskillNo. More frequent visits than the statutory entitlement are permitted in some men's and in some women's prisons, the determining factor being the facilities and staff available.