Keith Mann (Hansard, 6 February 1996)

§ Miss Widdecombe

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from A. J. Pearson to Mr. Gordon Prentice, dated 6 February 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about what considerations led to Keith Mann being given category A status. Category A is applied to those prisoners whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public or the police or the security of the state no matter how unlikely that escape might be; and for whom the aim must be to make escape impossible. Keith Mann was convicted of arson in June 1993. He escaped from prison custody while awaiting sentence and was unlawfully at large until his re-arrest in April 1994. On arrest he was found to be in possession of what was reported by police to be material which could be used for making explosives and incendiary devices. He was 110W subsequently charged with a number of offences including attempted arson, incitement to commit arson and having explosive substance under suspicious circumstances. In accordance with procedures laid down in the Prison Service Manual on Security, Keith Mann was, on his reception into prison custody, reported to Prison Service headquarters as a potential category A prisoner. Having regard to the nature and circumstances of the alleged offence, information received from the police and in the light of an assessment provided by a specialist police adviser, it was decided that Mr. Mann should be provisionally classified category A pending conviction and sentence. On 19 December 1994 at the Central Criminal Court, Mr. Mann was sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment for damaging property, attempted incitement to commit arson, attempted incitement to commit criminal damage, attempted incitement to steal and having explosive substance under suspicious circumstances. A review of his security category was completed by the Prison Service Category A committee in September 1995. It was decided that Mr. Mann should remain a category A prisoner but this decision was further reviewed following the outcome of his appeal against sentence. It was subsequently decided that Mr. Mann's security category could be downgraded to category B.