§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions in 2001 prison inmates, taken to hospital for medical treatment, have been shackled while in hospital; and if he will make a statement. [152817]
518W
§ Mr. BoatengNo central records are maintained of the number of prisoners taken to hospital for medical treatment or the number of those who are held under restraint, and the information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The application of restraints to prisoners at hospital is determined by a risk assessment but restraints are not applied to women attending for antenatal treatment or to give birth. Once applied, restraints may be removed subject to a risk assessment, and will be removed where a healthcare professional seeks their removal because of an immediate risk to the health of the prisoner, or because the prisoner is in pain or discomfort, or because the restraints are impeding essential treatment.