Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many category A and category B prisoners are currently being held in category C or category D prisons.

All prisoners are assessed as to their risk of escape or abscond, and their risk of harm to the public should they escape or abscond, which ensures allocation of prisoners to a prison providing appropriate levels 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.

Those same procedures ensure that category A and B prisoners are not allocated to category C or D prisons and that all prisoners are held in an establishment of at least the security category to which they have been assigned.

Prisoners re-categorised to a higher category would be held in the prison's Segregation Unit until such time as they could be moved to more appropriate accommodation.