Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 203862 on Open Prisons: Prisoners' Transfers, what the criteria were for male prisoners to be deemed eligible for the Restricted Open Estate Transfer scheme; and if he will make a statement.

The Restricted Open Estate Transfer (ROET) scheme was active from 25 September to 9 October. Eligibility for ROET was limited to prisoners serving a standard determinate sentence with an automatic release point at the halfway point of their sentence who were between 7 and 28 days away from their conditional release date. Fewer than 50 lower risk offenders were transferred as they progressed towards moving back into the community at the end of their sentence. Any prisoners showing concerning or violent behaviour were excluded.

Prisoners in the following categories were deemed ineligible for ROET:

• Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) who are liable for deportation;
• Prisoners currently serving a sentence for any sexual offence or subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (sex offenders’ register) on release
• Prisoners currently serving a sentence for a terrorist or terrorist connected offence
• Prisoners currently serving a sentence of 4 or more years for a violent offence;
• Category A prisoners (status of the prisoner, not the prison)
• Category B prisoners (status of the prisoner, not the prison)
• Prisoners currently serving a recall
• Prisoners currently remanded in custody on other matters
• Multiple Agency Public Protection Act 2 and 3 cases
• Prisoners who are very high risk of serious harm (non-MAPPA cases)
• Prisoners whose victims are subject to the Victim Contact Scheme

Prisoners should be excluded if their current behaviour or any known risk factors would make a current recategorisation decision inappropriate. These factors are:

• Anyone who had shown violent behaviour in jail or who could not be managed effectively in a Category D prison could be excluded.
• Prisoners currently or in the last 14 days located in segregation, unless the prison is satisfied that the circumstances of their segregation should not prevent their recategorisation – for instance those segregated at their request for their own protection.
• Prisoners on the E-list.
• Prisoners deemed locally to be ‘wholly unacceptable’ and therefore escalated via Silver Commanders to Gold for consideration.