§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what improvements the redsignation of prisons in Yorkshire and Humberside will bring for young offenders;
(2) what representations he has had from the Prison Officers' Association, Thorp Arch branch, on the redesignation of prisons in Yorkshire and Humberside; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what alternatives he has considered to the reallocation of juvenile offenders away from Thorp Arch remand centre;
(4) if young offenders will be held in the same prisons as adult offenders as a result of the redesignation of prisons in Yorkshire and Humberside.
§ Mr. MellorThe under-2l-year-old population previously accommodated in Her Majesty's remand centre Thorp Arch will now be divided between Her Majesty's prison Leeds and Her Majesty's prison and remand centre Hull. Those in Hull will be in a discrete unit holding all those aged under 17 previously in Thorp Arch. Those in Leeds will be held in exactly the same conditions as those previously held there for lack of places in Thorp Arch, every effort being made to keep them separate from adults though it cannot be guaranteed that they will be kept apart at all times.
These changes form part of a package designed to relieve the acute overcrowding at Leeds by converting Hull from a dispersal prison to a local prison and remand centre and Thorp Arch from a remand centre to an adult training prison. Various other options, including one proposal by the Prison Officers' Association at Thorp Arch, were considered but were unsuitable because they would have left the north region with insufficient places for long-term category C prisoners, thus preventing the conversion of Hull and the relief of overcrowding at Leeds.
Many of the prisoners aged under 21 who are being relocated will benefit from being in establishments which are easier for their families and legal advisers to visit.