Prison Estate Transformation Programme
National Offender Management Service
4th Floor, Red Zone,
Clive House
70 Petty France
LONDON SW1H 9EX
Telephone 0300 047 6325
Fax 0300 047 6864
28 September2016
Linda Hill
Email:
Our reference: FOI107569
Dear Ms Hill
Thank you for your email of 14September, in which you asked for the following information from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):
When responding to this request, please note that I am only concerned with information germane to adult male prisoners. I am not concerned with youth male prisoners, or with females of any age. Please ensure your responses deal only with those with whom I am concerned.
In respect of each of the Courts I list below, please provide a list of all of the Prisons which are designated to receive prisoners from the particular Court. In respect of each of the Prisons which you name, please confirm:
(a) the criteria for admission (including any exceptional criteria);
(b) whether it is the primary/predominant Prison for this purpose or not, and if not, the circumstances which would lead to this Prison being used in place of the primary/predominant one; and
(c) the name of the operator of the Prison, and whether or not the Prison is public sector, private sector, or hybrid (i.e. public sector under a service level agreement or contract).
The list of Courts is as follows:
I. Wigan Magistrates' Court
II.Ormskirk Magistrates' Court
III. Chorley Magistrates' Court
IV. Liverpool Crown Court
V. Preston Crown Court
Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
The following list details the prisons that serve the courts you have asked about. The National Offender Management Service will always find accommodation for those committed by the courts.
There may be occasions when the prisons identified below will not be able to receive prisoners from these courts due to late court sittings, traffic conditions and/or adverse weather, for capacity or other operational reasons. When this occurs prisoners maybe redirected to other local prisons or held overnight in a police cell before returning to the appropriate prison.
The courts you have enquired about are served by the following prisons:
I. Wigan Magistrates' Court - HMP/YOIForest Bank
II.Ormskirk Magistrates' Court - HMP/YOI Preston
III. Chorley Magistrates' Court - HMP/YOI Preston
IV. Liverpool Crown Court -HMP Liverpool
V. Preston Crown Court -HMP/YOI Preston
As “local” prisons, their primary function is to serve their respective courts and as such accept remand and sentenced males aged 18 and over (HMP/YOIsForest Bankand Preston), or remand and sentenced prisoners aged 21 and over (HMP Liverpool). Local prisons do not have an identified acceptance criteria except by gender and age.Exceptionally, some high risk prisoners might be sent directly to a high security prison from court.
Turning to questions B and C of your request, I can confirm that the department holds the information that you have asked for. The information is exempt under section 21 of the FOIA because it is reasonably accessible to you and I am pleased to inform you that you can access it via the following link:
The above link details the predominant function and operator of each prison in England Wales.
Section 21(1) of the FOIA exempts disclosure of information that is reasonably accessible by other means, and the terms of the exemption mean that we do not have to consider whether or not it would be in the public interest for you to have the information.You can find out more about section 21 by reading the extract from the FOIA and some guidance points we consider when applying this exemption, attached to this letter.
You can also find more information by reading the full text of the FOIA, available at and further guidance
You have the right to appeal our decision if you think it is incorrect. Details can be found in the ‘How to Appeal’ section attached at the end of this letter.
Disclosure Log
You can also view information that the Ministry of Justice has disclosed in response to previous Freedom of Information requests. Responses are anonymised and published on our on-line disclosure log which can be found on the MoJ website:
Yours sincerely
RICHARD CARLING
How to Appeal
Internal Review
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to an internal review. The handling of your request will be looked at by someone who was not responsible for the original case, and they will make a decision as to whether we answered your request correctly.
If you would like to request a review, please write or send an email within two months of the date of this letter to the Data Access and Compliance Unit at the following address:
Data Access and Compliance Unit (10.34)
Information & Communications Directorate
Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
LONDON
SW1H 9AJ
Email:
Information Commissioner’s Office
If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Commissioner is an independent regulator who has the power to direct us to respond to your request differently, if he considers that we have handled it incorrectly.
You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at the following address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
WILMSLOW
SK9 5AF
Internet address: