RULE 43 NOUN (PEOPLE AND SOCIETY)

A prison regulation in the UK whereby an inmate considered to be at risk from the rest of the prison community (for example, because of the nature of the offence that he or she has committed) may be placed in solitary confinement for his or her own protection. Also, a prisoner isolated under this rule (sometimes abbreviated to 43). Etymology: The paragraph number of the rule in the Prison Rules. History and Usage: The rule has been in force since at least the early seventies; what brought the question of segregation under Rule 43 to public attention was discussion in the media of the prison riots at Strangeways Prison in Manchester in April 1990, when it became clear that rioting prisoners had quickly broken into the segregated areas where Rule 43 prisoners were kept in order to attack them. Do not suppose that 43s are necessarily the most evil. They may be, they may not be. What is unique to them is their fear. Daily Telegraph 3 Apr. 1990, p. 16 Most violence was aimed at the vulnerable Rule 43 prisoners... [Sexual offenders] make up to 70 per cent of the Rule 43 prisoners. Independent 3 Apr. 1990, p. 2