Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) men and (b) women from Salford are in prison.

The tables in the accompanying spreadsheet set out the number of male and female prisoners with an origin address in Salford who were in prison as at 31 December 2018 – the most recent date for which such data is available.

There are complex and wide-ranging issues involved in transferring and locating prisoners, and allocation decisions must reflect both the specific needs and circumstances of the prisoner, including their security category, as well as the operating environment and range of services at the receiving prison.

Prisoners held in the adult male prison estate are organised in categories of risk ranging from category A for the highest risk offenders to category D for those posing the lowest risk and suitable for open conditions. Balanced alongside this is the need to separate specific cohorts of prisoners and provide accommodation for those who are yet to be sentenced and/or categorised. Women and Young Offenders are categorised as ‘restricted status’ for those who would pose serious risk to the public, or assessed as suitable for ‘closed’ or ‘open’ conditions depending on their level of risk.

HMPPS endeavours to hold prisoners in establishments which keep them as close to home as possible so they can (re)build family ties, secure housing, access health services and look for work. Consideration is also given to other factors such as time to serve, security categorisation, offending behaviour and access to relevant training programmes as per the requirements set out in their sentence plan.