Prisoners: Coronavirus

(asked on 13th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the effect of increased court activity resulting from the easing of covid-19 lockdown restrictions on the size of the prison population in England and Wales in the next six months.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 18th May 2020

As the Prime Minister has set out in his announcement on Sunday 10 May, we will be living with COVID-19 for some time. Prisons are a closed setting with many vulnerable individuals so it is important that we proceed cautiously. Any roadmap for transitioning out of the COVID-19 lockdown measures within the custodial estate in England and Wales requires close engagement across the whole of the criminal justice system, including with Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, to understand the effects of renewed court activity and the potential impact this may have on the prison population. This work has already begun and we will keep Parliament informed of progress.

We are continuing our work to install temporary accommodation units across the estate which will help us to complete the compartmentalisation strategy, which includes the reverse-cohorting of new admissions to isolate them from the rest of the prison for 14 days to reduce the risk of infection being brought into the prison. Nearly 500 such units have already been delivered across the estate, with plans in place for the installation of the next 500.

Any decisions on the next steps in prisons will follow advice from the NHS and Public Heath England and Public Health Wales alongside an operational assessment of what can be achieved in custodial settings with social distancing advice. We will report publicly with more information in due course.

Reticulating Splines