Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners serving what sentence length are being held in open prisons.

The below table provides the number of prisoners serving sentences currently and residing in open prisons, by sentence length.

There are two means by which indeterminate sentenced prisoners (ISPs – both those serving life and indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs)) – are considered for transfer to open conditions. The principal means is by way of a positive recommendation from the independent Parole Board, which falls to officials either to accept or reject on behalf of the Secretary of State, under agreed delegated authority. However, ISPs may also apply to progress to open conditions without Parole Board involvement, where they can show exceptional progress in reducing their risk. Each application is determined on its merits under agreed delegated authority from the Secretary of State by officials in the Offender Management and Public Protection Group in the Ministry of Justice.

Determinate sentenced prisoners are assessed for their suitability for open conditions by experienced prison staff with relevant input from offender managers and other professionals within the prison. The assessment will consider the extent to which the prisoner has reduced identified risks and any intelligence or other information that provides evidence of the prisoner’s trustworthiness for conditions of very low security. Determinate sentence prisoners should not generally be moved to open prison if they have more than two years to serve to their earliest release date, unless assessment of a prisoner’s individual risks and needs support earlier categorisation to open conditions. Such cases must have the reasons for their categorisation fully documented and confirmed in writing by the Governing Governor.

All offenders located in open conditions have been rigorously risk assessed and their risks have been deemed manageable in open conditions.

The public have understandable concerns about the failure of some prisoners to return from temporary release from open prison. Keeping the public safe is our priority and we will not allow the actions of a small minority of offenders to undermine public confidence in the prison system. The number of temporary release failures remains very low; less that one failure in every 1,000 releases and about five in every 100,000 releases involving alleged offending, but we take each and every incident seriously. The Government has already ordered immediate changes to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. Prisoners are now no longer eligible for transfer to open conditions if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence, unless there are exceptional circumstances.