§ 10. Mr. Bill Rammell (Harlow)If he will make a statement on the Government's policy towards prisoners who smuggle drugs into prisons. [69114]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. George Howarth)We are committed to reducing the use of illegal drugs in prison. As part of an overall strategy, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced proposals on 25 January to introduce a co-ordinated range of measures against both prisoners and visitors who smuggle drugs into prison.
§ Mr. RammellI thank the Minister for that reply. Does he agree that deterrence is the best mechanism by which to stop drugs being smuggled into prison? Evidence suggests that drugs most commonly get into prisons through domestic visits. Where that is proven to have occurred, should not the prison authorities have the ability to ban domestic visits for a set period? Will my hon. Friend ensure that, when such powers become available to the prison authorities from 1 April, they are rigorously enforced to ensure that we continue to see, as we have over the past couple of years, a reduction in the number of drugs smuggled into prisons?
§ Mr. HowarthMy hon. Friend is quite right to say that restrictions on visits to prisoners are likely to act as a strong deterrent to visitors and prisoners. Visitors found smuggling drugs will normally be banned from visiting the prison for at least three months. Prisoners found to be, or believed to be, engaging in such activity will normally take all visits in closed conditions for a period equivalent to three months in total. Those regulations will be introduced on 1 April, and they will be enforced.
§ Mr. Edward Garnier (Harborough)Is not one of the best ways in which to inhibit drug smuggling and trading within prisons to prevent overcrowding? Last week, the Minister was unable to answer my written parliamentary question on that subject, which was designed to find out how many people were sharing three to a cell meant for two prisoners. If the Minister were to visit, among others, Belmarsh prison near Greenwich, he would find a number of prisoners sharing cells in such conditions. If the Minister viewed that problem, he would perhaps learn a little about how to solve the problems of drug smuggling and trading in prisons.
§ Mr. HowarthThe hon. and learned Gentleman is being somewhat imaginative in making that connection. There are difficulties in disentangling that information and, as I explained in my written answer last week, the statistics are not recorded in the manner that he 595 suggested. I am satisfied that the problem raised by the hon. and learned Gentleman is not a major one, and that the real problem lies not in what passes between prisoners inside a prison, but in how the drugs get into the prison in the first place. That is the area on which we are right to concentrate our attention. If we followed the logic of the hon. and learned Gentleman, we would bother not with what went into prisons, but about what was circulating in them. Clearly, that would not be equal to the problem.
§ Mr. Martin Linton (Battersea)Is my hon. Friend aware that the smuggling of drugs into prison is the cause not only—and obviously—of drug taking, but of a great deal of prisoner-on-prisoner violence and feuding, and a great many tragic suicides in prison? Is he further aware that it causes a great deal of theft outside prison as relatives steal money to buy drugs to smuggle to their drug-taking relatives in prison?
§ Mr. HowarthMy hon. Friend is right. It is important that we should get two messages across. First, prisoners found guilty, through mandatory drug testing, of trading or using drugs in prison will be punished in serious cases. More importantly, those who visit prisoners should know that, as of 1 April, serious measures will be enforced if they decide to take drugs into prisons. Violence, theft and much else are caused by drugs. We shall not tolerate what has happened in the past in our prisons, and we intend to start dealing with the problem severely.