§ Mr. Humeasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many strip searches have taken place in prisons in Great Britain in each of the past five years; how many prisoners have been subjected to this searching; and how many of these were remand prisoners;
(2) what guidelines are issued to prison staff in Great Britain regarding strip searches;
(3) what sanction there is against a member of prison staff who breaches the guidelines on strip searching; how many complaints arising out of strip searches have been 33W made against prison staff in each of the past five years; and how many staff members have been reprimanded as a result of conduct during a strip search;
(4) if he has received any medical reports suggesting that prisoners have received physical, mental or nervous illness as a result of strip searching;
(5) at what level of authority individual strip searches are ordered or authorised; and whether such searches are ever conducted on a random basis.
§ Mr. MellorThe following information relates to prison department establishments in England and Wales. Responsibility for establishments in Scotland rests with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.
General provisions on searching are contained in rule 39 of the prison rules 1964 and rule 43 of both the youth custody centre rules 1983 and the detention centre rules 1983. These rules make it clear that prisoners (including remand prisoners) are to be searched on reception into a prison department establishment and subsequently as the governor thinks necessary.
Standing instructions provide that the search on reception should be a strip search, that strip searches should be carried out during routine cell searching, and that special strip searches when there is reason to suspect that a particular prisoner has prohibited articles on his person should be authorised by the governor, deputy governor or chief officer. The instructions also give detailed guidance about the way in which searches should be conducted. Information is not maintained about the number of strip searches carried out.
Prison officers are subject to a code of discipline that applies to all their conduct on duty and which provides for disciplinary sanctions ranging up to dismissal in very serious cases. Records are not kept centrally about the number, the grounds, or the outcome of complaints made against prison staff.
The Department has received no representations from prison medical officers that strip searches have been injurious to health.