§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the number of(a) members of staff and (b) other officially approved visitors to prisons in England and Wales who have been caught seeking to take illegal drugs into prisons in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [4500]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Mr. Tom Cox, dated II December 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the number of (a) members of staff and (b) other officially approved 496W visitors to prisons in England and Wales who have been caught seeking to take illegal drugs into prisons in each of the last three years.The information requested is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if a person convicted of attempting to smuggle drugs into a prison in England and Wales is allowed to make visits to prison inmates. [4504]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 11 December 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about whether a person convicted in attempting to smuggle drugs into a prison in England and Wales is allowed to make visits to prison inmates.Guidance on visits policy is contained in Rules 33, 34 and 37A of the Prison Rules and corresponding Rules 10, 11 and 13 of the Young Offender Institution Rules. Standing Order 5A and Circular Instruction 11/1991 to governors sets out in more detail the arrangements which should apply.There is no blanket policy to refuse permission for persons convicted of smuggling drugs into prisons to visit prisoners in prisons in England and Wales. It would be extremely difficult to enforce any such policy and it would be prohibitively costly for the Prison Service to extend the vetting procedures already in force for persons applying to visit category A prisoners to all family and friends wishing to visit prisoners throughout the prison estate. However, governors already have discretion to refuse visits on the grounds of security, good order or discipline, or in the interests of the prevention or discouragement of crime. A governor may use this discretion where a visitor is recognised to he an ex-prisoner convicted of drug offences or other serious crimes, or someone known to be involved with drugs or has already been found trying to smuggle illicit substances into a prison visits area. Alternatively, where security or control considerations require, the governor can stipulate that a closed visits room or visits box is used.Under the arrangements for category A prisoners, prospective visitors are invited to complete a form and to submit two passport photographs. The local police force is asked to verify the photograph, to make checks concerning previous convictions and to provide any other information which may be of importance in relation to security. Previous convictions, by themselves, do not automatically preclude approval of an application but discretion can be exercised given all the known facts.The Learmont report into prison security makes a number of recommendations to improve the supervision of visits for prisoners. These are under consideration. In addition, mandatory closed visits were introduced in June this year for those few prisoners who are category A exceptional risk. As part of its drugs strategy programme, the Prison Service intends to conduct a pilot study in a sample of prisons making it mandatory to impose a closed visit for any person found using or trafficking in drugs.