Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons the HM Prison and Probation Service has declared a moratorium on prison research during the period of covid-19 related solitary confinement; and if he will make an assessment of the (a) effects of confinement on individuals and (b) potential merits of different means of (i) ameliorating those effects and (ii) tackling future infections.

As a result of the strong but necessary measures we introduced in prisons, lives have been saved and the NHS is being protected from the impact of widespread local outbreaks. The safety of our staff and those in our care remains our top priority, and social distancing is one of the most effective controls to reduce the transmission of infection.

HMPPS does not hold people in solitary confinement, but there are occasions where, for their own safety or that of others and in line with Prison Service Order 1700, prisoners are segregated from the main population of the prison. We have not changed this policy in response to Covid-19, and have therefore not put any prisoner into solitary confinement.

The response to the COVID-19 crisis has been guided by Public Health England and Wales advice. We have taken decisions to control the spread of infection across the estate, which has resulted in prisoners receiving less time out of their cells, compared to regimes before the pandemic. We recognise that the restrictions brought in to control the spread of infection must be proportionate, and we will continue to keep them under review. Our National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services, which has been guided by public health advice, sets out in detail how we will take decisions about easing coronavirus-related restrictions in prisons, while keeping staff and those in our care safe.

The National Research Committee (NRC) approves research to be conducted with staff and offenders across HMPPS. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the NRC has restricted the number of applications to conduct primary research across HMPPS until further notice; only applications to conduct high priority or urgent projects continue to be reviewed, including requests to access existing data for secondary analysis.

The decision was taken to prevent the spread of the virus, protect staff and those accommodated in prisons and to reduce the burden on prison resources while prisons operate under restricted regimes. The NRC restrictions will be kept under review and easement will be informed by the National Framework.