§ Baroness Masham of Iltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the present policy governing the use of mechanical restraints on prisoners receiving medical care; under what circumstances restraints may be removed from a prisoner; under what circumstances a prisoner may be chained to an inanimate object; and whether they will place in the Library a copy of the guidance issued by the Prison Service; and
What is the current timetable for revising the Prison Service security manual in which new guidelines for restraining prisoners receiving hospital care are due to appear, and whether it is yet possible to identify any major changes.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Blatch)Responsibility 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 to Baroness Masham of Ilton from the Director General of the Prison Service, Mr. Richard Tilt, dated 11 th February 1997
Lady Blatch has asked me to reply to your recent Questions about the use of restraints on prisoners in hospital and the revision of our policy on this issue, with particular reference to the chaining of prisoners to inanimate objects.
I issued a complete revision of section 60 of the Security Manual on 31st January. This sets out the arrangements to be made by governors for prisoners receiving medical treatment outside the prison, and the circumstances in which restraints may and may not be applied. An amendment to Section 39 of the Manual, providing instructions on category A prisoners receiving outside medical treatment, was issued at the same time.
A copy of these new instructions is attached and a copy is being placed in the Library of the House.