§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who issued the instruction to keep open at all times the cell door of Mrs. Rosemary West, currently in custody at Pucklechurch remand centre, after the death of her husband on 2 January.
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§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 30 January 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about who issued the instruction to keep open at all times the cell door of Mrs. Rosemary West, currently in custody at Pucklechurch Remand Centre, after the death of her husband on 2 January.After the death of Frederick West on 1 January 1995 at Birmingham prison, the Directory of Custody, Phillipa Drew, in consultation with me, took the decision to place Rosemary West under observation by two members of staff on a twenty four hour basis, to prevent her from self harm.Mrs. West's cell door is not kept open at all times. Her door is unlocked at approximately 20:45 and is locked again at 07.30. Every effort is being made to make the observation of Mrs. West as unobtrusive as possible.