§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish in the Official Report a table detailing on a monthly basis the number of body searches, cell searches and cell changes carried out on each of the three women being held on remand at Her Majesty's prison, Brixton;
(2) how many strip searches were made of the three female prisoners held on remand in Her Majesty's prison, Brixton, during the first five months of 1986, detailing the number of times each person was strip searched per month; whether any contraband, smuggled item or illegal correspondence was discovered in any search, indicating which items; in how many cases prisoners refused to be searched and had to be restrained while the search was being conducted; and if he will indicate the reasons for the search, namely, making an appearance at a courthouse on remand, attending trial, inter-prison visits or other reasons.
§ Mr. HurdStrip searching is a routine security procedure, of long standing, to which all prisoners, male and female (including those on remand), are subject. It is essential to detect small items of contraband—such as weapons and drugs—which can easily be concealed322W about the person and which cannot be detected by other means of searching. Because of the nature and circumstances of the offences with which the) were charged, all three women prisoners in Brixton were provisionally placed in the highest security category, category A, which is reserved for those prisoners whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public, or to the police, or the security of the State. In accordance with standard practice, they have been strip searched before and after court appearances, at the time of cell changes, and during wing and cell searches. The information requested is contained in the following tables covering the first five months of 1986:
1986 Ms. Anderson Ms. O'Dwyer Mrs. Schulze Strip searches before and after court appearances January nil nil nil February 3 2 nil March 2 2 nil April nil nil nil May 34 34 nil Strip searches after visits January 15 17 6 February 22 24 7 March 25 25 6 April 40 37 5 May 26 25 13 Strip searches at lime of cell change, wing search or cell search January 6 7 6 February 5 6 6 March 4 6 6 April 6 6 6 May 2 2 5 For reasons which the hon. Member will understand, it is not the practice to disclose detailed information such as that requested about security arrangements—for example the frequency of cell changes or cell searches.
The trial of Ms. Anderson, Ms. O'Dwyer and their codefendants opened at the Central Criminal Court on 6 May and they were convicted on 11 June.
There is no record of an occasion on which any of the prisoners has refused to be strip searched and been searched under restraint. To date, no unauthorised item has been found on any of the three women during a strip search. But the justification for strip searching lies not only in the fact that staff do discover items (such as drugs, syringes, plastic knives sharpened into daggers, and scissors) which they would not otherwise find, but also in the deterrent effect which such searching undoubtedly has.
Records are not kept of the occasions when rub-down searching, or "frisking", is carried out in prisons. Such searching is a routine security measure in prison establishments as it is in other circumstances — for example, at airports.