§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many strip searches were made on female prisoners in Her Majesty's Prison, Maghaberry, monthly since January, giving the number of persons involved and the number of times each person was searched; if any prison 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 what were the reasons for the search.
§ Mr. CopeDetails of the numbers of, and reasons for strip searches made of female prisoners in HM prison Maghaberry from October 1988 to February 1989 have already been provided on 21 April 1989 at column 326. Details from March 1989 to June are as follows:
1089W
March 1989 April 1989 May 1989 June 1989 Number of searches Total number of searches carried out 15 34 10 21 Total number of inmates searched 13 25 9 15 Number of prisoners searched once 11 16 8 9 Number of prisoners searched twice 2 9 1 6 Number of prisoners searched more than twice — — — — Reasons for search First admission on remand/awaiting trial 3 13 4 6 First admission on sentence/final discharge 11 16 4 11 Attending remand court — — — — Attending trial — — — — Inter-prison visits — — — —
March 1989 April 1989 May 1989 June 1989 Pre-release home leave — 2 2 4 Visits to outside hospital — — — — Returning from bail application — — — — Attendance court for bail 1 2 — — Fines paid — 1 — — No prohibited article was found during these searches and no prisoner refused to be searched.