§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what circumstances a prison governor may exercise his discretion in granting an open visit to a prisoner normally on a closed visit regime. [20059]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility 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.
409WLetter from A. J. Pearson to Mr. Kevin McNamara, dated 17 March 1997:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the circumstances under which a prison governor may exercise discretion in granting an open visit to a prisoner normally on a closed visit regime.In general, governors have discretion under Prison Standing Order 5 to impose closed visits in respect of any prisoner where security or control considerations so require. The imposition and removal of this class of closed visit restriction, for prisoners who are not categorised as Exceptional Escape risk, is entirely at the discretion of the prison governor.All visits to Exceptional Escape risk prisoners will normally take place under closed conditions. An open visit may be authorised in exceptional circumstances by an operational Director of the Prison Service. In doing so he will seek advice from the prison governor.