HL Deb 26 January 1998 vol 585 cc9-10WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

With regard to prisoners held under special secure conditions:

  1. (a) what is the longest, median and mean length of holding under such conditions (Acheson Report, Recommendation 4);
  2. (b) whether prisoners now have the right to make written representations asking to be held under more normal conditions;
  3. (c) whether prisoners are informed of how long they are likely to be held under special secure conditions;
  4. (d) whether open visits have been restored in all cases, as recommended by the Woodcock and Acheson Reports (paragraph 6.57 and Recommendation 8); and, if not, why not and when they expect such visits to be restored;
  5. (e) whether sentence planning is now available to all prisoners (Acheson Report, Recommendation 6); and, if not, why not;
  6. (f) whether regime improvements have been or will be introduced (Acheson Report, Recommendation 7 and paragraph 5.14);
  7. (g) whether, if prisoners are to continue to be held at Her Majesty's Prisons Full Sutton and Belmarsh under special secure conditions, natural light and the outlook from cells will be improved (Acheson Report, paragraphs 4.6 and 4.9); and
  8. (h) when they intend to commission further independent reviews of the health of prisoners (Acheson Report, Recommendation 1). [HL133]

Lord Williams of Mostyn

(a) Of the six prisoners currently held in the Whitemoor Special Secure Unit (SSU), the longest stay is four years five months, the median length is two years four months, and the mean length is just under two years one month.

(b) as a matter of existing policy, all prisoners, including those held in SSUs, may make a request or complaint to the Governor or board of visitors relating to their imprisonment, orally or in writing at any time. In addition, prisoners held in SSUs are given the opportunity to make written representations when their cases are coming before the Category A Review Committee. Alternatively, they may instruct their legal representatives to make such representations.

(c) Prisoners are held in SSUs only if they are classified as Category A Exceptional risk of escape. There are no time limits relating to the period of detention in such units. A prisoner's security category and escape risk classification are normally reviewed annually but can be reviewed at any time in the light of information received. Once a prisoner is no longer classified as exceptional risk, he will be moved out of the SSU.

(d) The six exceptional risk category A prisoners held in the SSU at Whitemoor continue to be subject to closed visits, although open visits may be, and have been, granted in exceptional circumstances. This is because there is still no acceptable alternative to closed visits which can guarantee that objects cannot be passed between visitor and prisoner. The policy of mandatory closed visits for exceptional risk prisoners will be kept under review to ensure that it remains the appropriate response to the threat posed by such prisoners.

(e) The overriding consideration in determining the length of time a prisoner spends in a SSU must be security. However, the Operating Standards have been amended to introduce sentence management procedures for SSU prisoners based on a six-monthly review of behaviour, attitude and other relevant factors. As part of the review, staff will identify a number of achievable targets for each prisoner for the following six-month period. The review and targets will provide the sentence plan documentation for SSU prisoners. New arrangements have been put in place for conducting regular reviews of all SSU prisoners. These include collecting the necessary information to inform future sentence planning.

(f) The security constraints imposed by the need to ensure that exceptional risk prisoners do not escape inevitably mean that the regime within SSUs is more restrictive than elsewhere. Within these constraints, the Prison Service continues to review the balance of regimes available to prisoners. Prisoners in SSUs have access to exercise, education, hobbies, limited work, visits, telephones, association and religion. At Whitemoor, currently the only operational SSU, braille transcribing and craftwork have been introduced, and access to physical education has been increased.

(g) The only SSU currently in operation is the one at Whitemoor Prison, which the Acheson Report acknowledged as being the most spacious of the SSUs, with good facilities and plenty of natural light.

(h) The health care received by prisoners in SSUs is comparable to that elsewhere in the Prison Service. In addition, the SSU Operating Standards were amended in January 1997 to incorporate formal reviews of the health of prisoners detained in the SSU every three months.