§ Mr. RoyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he proposes to allow prisoners to have televisions in their cells; and if he will make a statement. [44219]
§ Mr. McLeishExcept in a very limited number of cases for educational purposes, prisoners in Scotland have not been allowed to have televisions in their cells.
However, having taken into account the support for wider availability of in-cell television evinced by a number of studies—and most recently by the review by the Social Work Services and Prisons Inspectorates of community disposals and the use of custody for women offenders in Scotland—I have decided that in-cell television should be made available on a limited pilot basis as a suicide prevention measure at Comton Vale women's prison.
The first sets will become available this Autumn. Eligible prisoners will pay a charge of around £1.00 per week to cover the cost of the sets, out of a weekly wage of around £6.00 per week, from which prisoners have to buy all of the items they are allowed but which are not provided by the prison authorities, including 'phone cards, additional toiletries, tobacco and sweets. They will have access to terrestrial channels only, during "lock-up" hours.
Our expectation is that in-cell television will assist greatly in the normalisation of the prison environment at Cornton Vale, and reduce instances of self-harm among the more damaged members of its population. We shall monitor its use in the pilot study to ensure that it has no detrimental effect on prisoners' participation in the regime of the establishment.
Consideration is also being given as to when this provision might be extended as an opportunity for a relatively small number of more responsible prisoners at the top end of the prison regime in Scotland, who would earn the privilege of access to in-cell TV through responsible behaviour. Out of a prison population of more than 6,000, such an extension would result in some 500 prisoners qualifying over time.