Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 16
4th Report - Coronavirus (Covid-19): The impact on prisons
Published 27 Jul 2020
Paragraph 82
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Coronavirus (COVID-19): The impact on prison, probation and court systems All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We are concerned that there does not appear to be a sufficiently clear, separate plan on how the youth custodial estate will transition out of the current lockdown phase. We agree that plans need to be flexible enough to accommodate different circumstances and situation of prisons, but we do not believe that this commitment is reflected in the National Framework for Prisons and Services. We are disappointed that children and young people appear as a “footnote” in the National Framework and believe that the specific needs of this cohort should be clearly articulated and believe that the specific needs of this cohort should be clearly articulated. The Committee recommend that the MoJ and Youth Custody Service set out in greater detail specifically how the children’s estate will transition out of the current phase of lockdown, bearing in mind our current understanding of the relative risks from Covid-19 in the youth custody estate and those in the adult estate.
From: Justice Committee, 4th Report - Coronavirus (Covid-19): The impact on prisons (HC 299), paragraph 82, 27 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 18 December 2020 (deadline 27 September 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and responds by describing measures already taken, setting out its position on each recommendation, and noting where it has no plans to restart some measures.
- On regimes, it says it "will seek to maintain as many establishments at Stage 3 as is possible over the winter", while responding to outbreaks. It states the minimum regime currently ranges from "around 1–3 hours a day out of cell".
- On video calling, it says it is now available in "over 110 prisons" and it expects facilities "in all establishments by the end of the year". It is "exploring the longer-term sustainability" of the service, without committing to make it permanent.
- On early release, End of Custody Temporary Release has been paused since August 2020 and it remains "a contingency measure". The government says "at present, there are no plans to re-start releases".
- On capacity, it cites more than £4 billion capital funding to make "significant progress" towards 18,000 additional prison places by the mid-2020s. Its aim is 1,000 temporary Rapid Deployment Cells in the 2021/22 financial year.