Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Category C Prisons there are in England and Wales; and how many of those prisons routinely accommodated prisoners of a higher risk category in 2018.

In 2018 there were 43 predominant category C training prisons in England and Wales. 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. 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.