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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Prison transfers: Move over Trevor MacDonald

Prison transfers: Move over Trevor MacDonald

I will be on ITV News at 6.30pm tonight in relation to this story.

This will be a first for me as I usually do the BBC and less frequently on Ch4.

I expect as we head towards the next election I will be more in demand.

Update: As it happens I was on Calendar Yorks/Lincs News at 6, but ITV did run the story without my input at 6.30. I will see what the 10 O Clock News has in store.

Temporary transfer of prisoners prior to inspections

Jack Straw has made a written ministerial statement concerning temporary transfer of prisoners prior to inspections.

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Jack Straw):

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, Dame Anne Owers, has today published two inspection reports concerning HMP Pentonville and HMP Wandsworth. The inspections took place in May and June this year.

A short time after the Wandsworth inspection, letters were sent to the Inspectorate and HMP Wandsworth on behalf of two prisoners, which indicated that prisoners had been temporarily moved out of the prison for the duration of the inspection. The implication of these letters was that the transfers were an attempt to manipulate the inspections to secure a more favourable outcome. The Chief Inspector sent a team of inspectors back to Wandsworth to examine the claims. That team also investigated the involvement of HMP Pentonville, which was said to have received prisoners temporarily from Wandsworth and to have transferred prisoners to Wandsworth for the duration of its own inspection.


Because of the actions of those seeking to corrupt the results of these reports they must be read with some caution.

Report on an announced inspection of
HMP Pentonville
11 – 15 May 2009
by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons


Report on an announced inspection of
HMP Wandsworth
1–5 June 2009
by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

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