§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total number of prisoners who have served terms of imprisonment at the Barlinnie special unit; how long was served at the unit by each prisoner; and how many prisoners have been released directly from the unit.
§ Mr. RifkindOn 31 December 1980 17 prisoners had spent part of their sentence in the Barlinnie special unit. The time spent by each prisoner—including those still in the unit—on that date was:
- 7 years 6 months
- 6 years 3 months
- 4 years 7 months
- 3 years 9 months
- 3 years 4 months
- 3 years 3 months
- 2 years 8 months
- 2 years 3 months
- 1 year 10 months
- 1 year 6 months
- 1 year 5 months
- 1 year 4 months
- 1 year 1 month
- 11 months
- 5months
- 6months
- 4 months
No prisoner has been released directly from the special unit but one former inmate returned there to complete his "Training for Freedom" before release.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many prisoners have been transferred to other prisons to complete their sentences, how many were transferred by their own request from the Barlinnie special unit, and what are the names of the prisons to which special unit prisoners have been transferred.
§ Mr. RifkindShort-term prisoners normally spend their full sentence in a local prison. Precise numbers of long-term prisoners who have been transferred to other prisons to complete their sentences are not available, but the great majority of these, and virtually all indeterminate sentence prisoners, are transferred from their original classification prisons to complete their sentences. Since the Barlinnie special unit was set up in 1973 no prisoners have been transferred from it at their own request. Of the 10 prisoners who have left the Barlinnie special unit, four have been transferred to Edinburgh, two to Penninghame, two to Peterhead and two to Barlinnie.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total number of recommendations that have been made by prison governors for prisoners in their establishments to be considered for placement at the Barlinnie special unit since the opening of the unit in 1972; how many applications for placement at the unit were refused; and what were the grounds for these refusals.
§ Mr. RifkindThe Barlinnie special unit opened in February 1973, with six inmates. Since then a total of 39 prisoners have been considered for transfer to the unit. Of these, 13 have been accepted. Two others are still under consideration.
The grounds for refusing a recommendation vary in individual cases but are based on an assessment, by the assessment team, of the prisoner's ability to accept and respond positively to the special demands of the unit's regime.
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§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he plans to commission a research study on the Barlinnie special unit and publish the findings.
§ Mr. RifkindNo. The number of prisoners who have passed through the unit is too small to provide a basis for any meaningful research project.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will in future permit prisoners to be released directly from the Barlinnie special unit rather than transfer prisoners to other prisons to complete their sentences.
§ Mr. RifkindThere is no policy that prevents a prisoner from completing his sentence in the Barlinnie special unit. The release plans of prisoners there, like those for other long-term prisoners in Scotland, are considered individually, on their merits.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps have been taken to make use of the lessons learnt from the operation of the Barlinnie special unit in developing regimes in other prisons.
§ Mr. RifkindThe regime at the Barlinnie special unit is based on developing personal and corporate responsibility among inmates and closer staff/inmate relationships. The small size of the unit and its high staff/inmates ratio provide conditions for this which do not exist and could not be duplicated in large prisons.
The experience of the special unit is exercising an increasing and beneficial influence, under different circumstances, in the regimes of other prisons establishments.
§ Mr. Russell Kerrasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide the following information about staffing at the Barlinnie special unit (a) the number of officers currently attached to the unit, (b) the numbers of nursing and discipline staff at the unit, and (c) the number of prison officers who have been attached to the special unit during the past 12 months.
§ Mr. RifkindAt 1 February 1981 there were 18 staff in the special unit, including the governor. Of these three were nursing officers and 14 discipline officers. There has been no change in the complement of the unit over the past 12 months, although the number of staff in post has varied from time to time.
§ Mr. Russell Kerrasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the average annual cost of keeping a prisoner at the Barlinnie special unit in 1978–79; and if he will list the categories of prisoners currently held at the unit.
§ Mr. RifkindFor administrative purposes the expenditure for the Barlinnie special unit is included in the expenditure of the main prison. It is not possible, therefore, to produce a separate figure for the average annual cost of keeping a prisoner in the unit, but it can be assumed that because the staff/inmate ratio is much higher in the unit than at other penal establishments the cost per inmate in 1978–79 would have been about four times the national average annual cost of £4,855 per prisoner.
There are currently seven prisoners in the unit, five of whom are category B and two category C.