§ Mr. Bernie GrantTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish a table showing the numbers of prisoners transferred to open prisons in the last year, their categorisation, the number transferred to 293W open prisons in the first week of their sentence and the period of their sentences which the remainder served prior to their transfer to the open prison;
(2) what are the current arrangements for deciding whether a prisoner is transferred to an open prison; and whether he has any plans to change those arrangements.
§ Mrs. RumboldA judgment is made in each case, based on information about the prisoner including any previous convictions for violent or sex offences, as to whether he or she can reasonably be trusted in open conditions. In some cases sufficient relevant information takes time to acquire. In general, the prison service seeks to transfer suitable prisoners to open conditions as soon as possible after sentence. There are no plans to alter these arrangements.
Details of the number of prisoners transferred to open prisons, including those who are transferred in the first week of their sentences, are not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.