HC Deb 07 December 1987 vol 124 cc2-3W
Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give details on a monthly basis of the number of body searches, cell searches and cell changes and strip searches carried out on each of the category A prisoners being held at Her Majesty's prison, Durham, between April and November.

Mr. John Patten

As the hon. Member knows, records are not kept of the occasions when rub down searching or "frisking" is carried out in prisons and it is not the practice to disclose detailed information about security arrangements such as that requested about the frequency of cell searches and cell changes.

Comprehensive records of strip searches are available only in respect of category A women prisoners, of whom there were three in Durham prison during the period in question. The number of occasions on which each was strip searched in each month from April to November is shown in the table:

Inmate A Inmate B Inmate C
April 3 2 4
May 7 5 3
June 2 5 3
July 2 3 1
August 3 3 2
September 3 4 4
October 2 4 3
November 3 3 2

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