HC Deb 29 July 1983 vol 46 c627W
Mr. McNamara

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many strip searches were made of female prisoners in Her Majesty's prison at Armagh in the month of June, indicating the number of prisoners involved and the number of times each prisoner was searched; and whether any prison contraband, smuggled items or illegal correspondence was discovered in any of the searches.

Mr. Scott

During June 1983, 103 strip searches were carried out on 31 female inmates in HM Prison, Armagh. Individual prisoners were searched the following number of times:

Number of prisoners (31) Number of searches in each case
1 28
1 27
1 3
17 2
11 1

The two prisoners who were strip-searched 28 and 27 times respectively were those engaged in a pre-release working out scheme referred to in my right hon. Friend's reply of 26 April 1983.

Items of illicit correspondence were discovered during the searching of some prisoners.