Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the process is for (a) determining the category of prisoners to be held in a prison and (b) changing the category of prisoners to be incarcerated in (i) an existing and (ii) a planned prison.

All prisoners undergo a thorough individual risk assessment following conviction and sentencing and placed in a prison suitable to their risk. Assessed risks are risk of escape and of harm to the public in the event of escape/abscond and risk to the good order of the establishment and the safety of those within it.

The prison estate is organised in categories of risk ranging from category A for the highest risk offenders to category D for those posing the lowest risk. Balanced alongside this is the need to separate specific cohorts of prisoners such as women and young people and deal with prisoners who are particularly difficult, or whose management requires particular expertise, such as very high risk or especially vulnerable prisoners.

The procedure for changing a prison’s security categorisation would be the same for new prisons as existing ones. This includes a comprehensive assessment of the physical security of a prison’s infrastructure, the necessary staffing levels to manage the desired population and the adequacy of ancillary and partner services, including health care, activities and education.