Fed up with bang up – April 2014
What are the rules on time out of cell? Unfortunately, they are very limited and it is not illegal for people to be locked up for long times. There are no rules that say how long people should be unlocked daily. If people are not involved in work or education, the only times they may be out of their cell are for association and time outside.
We are hearing that people in prison are being locked up for longer and we would be interested in knowing more. We are also trying to find out when people have most access to the phone, and if we should change our free information line times. If you can’t call when we are open at the moment (3.30-7.30 or 3.30 -5.30), we would like to know when you would be able to call.
What are the rules on time out of cell? Unfortunately, they are very limited and it is not illegal for people to be locked up for long times. There are no rules that say how long people should be unlocked daily. If people are not involved in work or education, the only times they may be out of their cell are for association and time outside. Association is an earnable privilege, rather than an automatic entitlement and there are no minimum periods in the rules, even for people on basic. Association is necessary for domestic, phone calls, access to wing officer as well as for support and social interaction. There are no rules that say evening association has to be provided if there are opportunities at other times to do these things.
There is actually no standard regime or core day for prisoners. The government’s policy is not to have a core day that all prisons have to follow, but to allow prison governors to be flexible. Prison governors will agree to provide the regime they believe is most suitable for their prison. This will cover timing, length and frequency of association, work and other activities. The aim is that people will have opportunities to do activities and be out of their cells for reasonable periods of time. However, cuts in staffing and funding are making this more difficult and seem to be leading to more activities being cancelled. We are also concerned that people are finding their association and time out of cell is being cut because they have been downgraded under the new PSI on Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEPs).
The policy at the moment is that people should have a minimum of thirty minutes in the open air every day. This is set down in section 2.21 in Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 75/2011 Residential Services. This is dependent on weather conditions and the need to keep the prison safe. Time in the open air means time in fresh air and natural light. Any time spent in these conditions, such as work, watching sport and doing sport counts as meeting the requirement for thirty minutes. The time in the open air also does not have to be in a single period but must not be made up of more than two periods. Unfortunately, the policy says that the prison can count time moving between activities as part of time in the open air. People in segregation used to be allowed an hour outside. This is now thirty minutes but the prison must also provide another 30 minutes of activity for someone in segregation.
from insidetime issue April 2014
