Hatfield

Response
I appreciate the Board’s ongoing concerns around maintenance provision for the Hatfield Lakes site. I sympathise with the Board's view that the current arrangements, with HMP Lindholme’s maintenance team providing provision for the Lakes site, may not be the best solution. As such, I am pleased to confirm that plans are already well advanced to move responsibility for facilities management of The Lakes to the Hatfield main site which should be completed this calendar year. The Governor has worked closely with the Ministry of Justice Property Services and the facilities management provider to develop a clear plan to transition both the management and delivery of the maintenance of the Lakes site to the main site as described. This has been a long-held ambition of the Governor who is personally driving this change, and I would like to commend the Governor for his determination to resolve this long-standing issue.

Response
Category D prisons remain an integral part of the prison system, including the resettlement programmes offered, and I remain committed to improving outcomes for prisoners. Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) provide specialist services designed to support individuals in custody or under probation supervision, either on licence following release from custody or serving community sentences. The current accommodation service supports men in prison to obtain housing on release or to maintain it if it is at risk. CRS providers work closely with the accommodation services to reduce the risk of homelessness on release. These contracts are currently being re-commissioned and will go live in 2027. A key improvement in the provision is the enhanced support available for those in custody to address housing, financial, and wider pre-release needs and for this support to focus on enabling a smooth transition to the community and to continue into the post-release licence period in order to reduce the risk of reoffending and recall.

Response
All prisoners allocated to the Open Estate, including HMP Hatfield, undergo a robust risk assessment process before progressing to these open conditions. The purpose of the security categorisation process is to assign offenders to the lowest security category appropriate to managing their risks. The assessment is made by a Prison Offender Manager, with input from other colleagues in the prison and wider justice agencies. These staff hold a specific risk assessment role, as well as having frequent contact with the relevant offenders. They are therefore able to assess their risk as presented from the offence they committed and their day-to-day behaviour within the prison. HMPPS can immediately return any offender to closed conditions at any point if they break the rules or if there is any evidence of an increased risk. Temporary Presumptive Re-categorisation Scheme (TPRS) Certain prisoners who have up to 36 months of their sentence left to serve may be eligible to move into open prisons. This is only available to some prisoners who have met very strict conditions to make them eligible. The TPRS36 scheme applies to category C prisoners serving standard determinate sentences who meet certain risk and offence criteria. There will be a presumption in such cases that re-categorisation to category D is appropriate. In determining whether prisoners meet the eligibility criteria, prisons must use all the information that is available to the Governor/Director at the time of making the assessment. Once a prisoner has moved to an open prison, they will be treated like any other Category D prisoner which means they will be assessed for Release on Temporary licence (ROTL).