Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Category D prisoners are held in (a) open and (b) closed prison environments.

The data provided above cover only adult prisoners (21+) in male prisons. Prisoners living in the open units of closed prisons (i.e. at HMP Norwich and HMP Stoke Heath) are included in the open conditions figure.

It should not be inferred that all Category D prisoners in closed conditions are necessarily awaiting a transfer to open conditions in the short to medium term. A proportion may have returned from open conditions as not being assessed as suitable, and are awaiting re-classification. The transfer of prisoners around the prison estate is a matter for both sending and receiving prisons to agree so that prisoners are held in establishments that provide appropriate levels of security, are suitable for their age and legal status, provide facilities to reduce their risk of reoffending and, wherever possible, at the lowest cost to the taxpayer. Prisoners are moved to suitable establishments as part of their sentence plan, following re-categorisation in line with centrally produced guidance, where requested or where there is an operational need to do so.

We are investing £3.8 billion to deliver 20,000 additional, modern prison places including 2,000 temporary prison places across England and Wales by the mid-2020s. This portfolio of work will deliver 660 additional places through expansion of the Category D estate at a number of sites across the country.