§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Lord Kagan, a convicted criminal, is serving his sentence in Rudgate open prison at Wetherby, Yorkshire, whilst many unconvicted persons are incarcerated in closed prisons awaiting trial; whether he will arrange for Lord Kagan to change places with one of these unconvicted prisoners now in closed prisons; and, in particular, if he will consider exchanging him with one individual who has been on remand awaiting trial for 17 months, details of whom have been supplied to him.
§ Mr. MayhewThe allocation of a convicted prisoner is based on an assessment of the security category in which he should be held. Unconvicted prisoners are generally in custody because the courts judge it necessary to make sure that they appear in court for trial. It follows that they are kept in closed prisons. The question of exchanging a convicted prisoner in an open prison with an unconvicted prisoner in a closed prison does not, therefore, arise.