Prison security categories in the United Kingdom

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There are four prison security categories in the United Kingdom used to classify every adult prisoner for the purposes of assigning them to a prison. The categories are based upon the severity of the crime and the risk posed should the person escape.

Prisons in England and Wales are managed by HM Prison Service. Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have their own prison administrations.

The categories for men are:

Category A prisoners are considered to be highly dangerous to the public or present a threat to national security if they escaped.
Category B prisoners pose less of a threat to the public, but for whom escape must be made very difficult. People on remand are normally treated as Category B.
Category C prisoners do not have the skills or the desire to escape, and are held in less secure conditions.
Category D prisoners are those who are not considered to pose a risk to the public or a desire to escape. Often prisoners serving the last few months of their sentence are assigned to category D since escaping would be pointless or counter-productive.

Category A, B and C prisons are called Closed prisons, whilst category D prisoners are held in Open prisons.

Women are also classified into four categories. Category A is identical to that for men. The other categories are closed, for people who are not trusted to not to try to escape, whilst semi-open (introduced 2001) and open are for those who can be trusted to stay in the prison. Remand prisoners are normally held in closed prisons.

1 Prison Categories in England & Wales
2 Prison Categories in Northern Ireland
3 Prison Categories in Scotland
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Prison Categories in England & Wales

Prisons in England and Wales are divided into several categories relating to the age, gender and security classification of the prisoners it holds.

[edit] Male adult prisoners

Male adult prisoners (those aged 21 or over) are given a security categorisation when they enter prison. These categories are based on the likelihood that they’ll try to escape, and the danger to the public if they did escape. The four categories are:

Category A prisoners are those whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public or national security
Category B prisoners are those who don’t require maximum security, but for whom escape needs to be made very difficult
Category C prisoners are those who can’t be trusted in open conditions but who are unlikely to try to escape
Category D prisoners are trusted enough to wander freely within the prison but must show up for several daily roll calls

[edit] Female adult prisoners

Prison security categories for women are similar to those for males – category A is the same. The other two categories are ‘closed’ for prisoners who can’t be trusted in an open prison, and ‘open’ for prisoners who are trusted enough to wander freely but must show up for daily roll calls.

[edit] Young offender secure centres and institutions

When young offenders under the age of 21 are sentenced to a custodial sentence they may be sent to one of three types of establishment:

Secure Training Centres (STCs) – privately run, education-focused centres for offenders up to the age of 17
Local Authority Secure Children’s Homes (LASCHs) – run by social services and focused on attending to the physical, emotional and behavioural needs of vulnerable young people
Young Offender Institutes (YOIs) – run by the prison service, these institutes accommodate 15-21 year olds and have lower ratios of staff to young people than STCs and LASCHs