Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners who were (a) new entrants, (b) inter-prison transfers and (c) recalls were not isolated within a reverse cohorting unit for 14 days before any mixing with the remainder of the prison population during May 2020.

Prisons in England and Wales have closely followed guidance issued by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and public health authorities to protect prisoners and staff. Building on best available evidence to protect the most vulnerable and reduce transmission of infection, new cohorting strategies were developed by HMPPS (advised by public health authorities) and implemented from 31 March.

Since 31 March, all inter-prison transfers have required approval by the HMPPS command structure before any transfer has taken place. Decisions by the HMPPS command structure to approve transfer have taken into account the capacity of reverse cohorting units to ensure any prisoners transferred between prisons, are able to be held separately from the remainder of the general population for 14 days. All new receptions into prison from court and recalls have similarly only been accepted into local prisons where there is adequate space for them to be held separately for 14 days. We do not record the number of prisoners processed through establishment reverse cohorting units centrally.