§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many prisons in England and Wales inmates do not currently have access to sanitation at all times; and if he will make a statement. [9770]
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§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Archy Kirkwood, dated 13 January 1997:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about prisons where inmates do not have access to sanitation at all times.An extensive programme of work in recent years resulted in the ending of the practice of slopping out in April 1996. There are now no prisons in England and Wales where prisoners housed in normal accommodation do not have access to sanitation at all times.Most of our establishments have retained a small amount of accommodation where integral sanitation would not be appropriate for example special cells or dirty protest cells. These do not form part of the certified normal accommodation of the establishment.There are also exceptional occasions when essential maintenance work requires the temporary suspension of access to sanitation.