Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many category B prisoners are being held in category C prisons.

All prisoners are individually assessed as to their risk of escape or abscond, their risk of harm to the public should they escape or abscond and their risk to the good order of the establishment. This ensures categorisation of prisoners to a prison providing an appropriate level of security. Only those prisoners categorised as C would be held in a category C prison and only those considered suitable would be held in category D open conditions.

No category B prisoners are held in category D prisons. Prisoners must be risk assessed as suitable for Category D/open conditions before allocation to an open establishment.

Category B prisoners are not routinely held in Category C prisons. If after reassessment a Category C prisoner is required to transfer to a Category B prison they are usually held in a segregation unit pending transfer to a suitable Category B establishment. On 13 December 2017, there were 20 such prisoners.

The correct categorisation and allocation, balancing security issues and the needs of the prisoner, helps prisoners to use their sentences constructively, to tackle their offending behaviour and to prepare for their eventual release. All prisoners must be placed in the category consistent with the needs of security and control and the need to protect the public. Prisoners of a higher security category would not, as a matter of course, be held in an establishment of a lower category. The only exceptions to this will be where prisoners are re-categorised, and then await a move to a different establishment.