§ Sir John WheelerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what further developments there have been in his plans to help prisoners maintain contact with their families and friends.
§ Mr. MellorMy hon. Friend the Member for Grantham (Mr. Hogg) announced a number of measures aimed at improving inmates' family ties on 17 March 1989 at column363. We are now establishing a pilot scheme to reduce routine censorship in local prisons, category B training prisons and remand centres to a 5 per cent. sample. The pilot scheme will run in Leeds, Maidstone, Norwich and Winchester prisons for three months from 1 February. The proposed reduction of routine censorship will remove the need for restrictions on the number of letters which inmates may send and receive and also enable staff to be redeployed to other duties.
We have also decided to establish a pilot scheme at Her Majesty's prison Manchester to enable remand inmates to
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Remand population in custody: by sex and type of custody, month end figures, 1989, England and Wales Number of persons Males Females Month end All Untried Convicted unsentenced Police cells1 All Untried Convicted unsentenced Police cells1 1989 January 10,512 8,594 1,681 237 494 380 88 26 February 10,357 8,436 1,726 195 476 364 105 7 March 10,294 8,545 1,678 71 476 394 82 — April 10,151 8,407 1,689 55 469 375 94 — May 9,926 8,120 1,675 131 476 374 102 — June 10,014 7,943 1,845 226 480 378 98 4 July 10,036 8,102 1,870 64 476 377 99 — August 10,242 8,389 1,833 20 474 395 79 — September 10,098 8,287 1,781 30 468 366 102 — October 9,989 8,190 1,784 15 482 382 100 — November 9,520 7,840 1,676 4 444 350 94 — 1 All were untried prisoners use cardphones subject to certain safeguards. This follows the successful introduction of cardphones in open prisons and the present programme, which is well advanced, to instal them in all category C and equivalent establishments. The Manchester pilot scheme should begin in March and, if successful, will be extended to remand inmates held in other local prisons and remand centres. It has also been decided that expenditure on phonecards will no longer count against the limit on the amount of private cash which inmates may spend. I hope that the ability to telephone family and friends will be of particular help in reducing the anxiety and stress experienced by inmates on remand and reduce the incidence of self-harm.