Prisons

HC Deb 09 February 2004 vol 417 cc1435-7W

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dogs trained to locate drugs are working in prisons; and how many days those dogs worked in the last 12 months. [152713]

Paul Goggins

There are 439 drug dogs working in prisons in England and Wales. Of these 236 are active dogs and 203 are passive dogs. Comprehensive information about the number of days Prison Service drug dogs work is not held centrally and could not be obtained except at disproportionate cost.

Sue Doughty

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Prison Service takes to obtain medical records about a prisoner's mental health from clinicians who have provided treatment prior to imprisonment. [152920]

Paul Goggins

Prison establishments were reminded, in guidance issued in May 2002, of the importance of effective information sharing with other agencies, in particular the NHS, in enabling continuity of care. This guidance requires them, generally with the prisoner's consent, to request any information required from a prisoner's general practitioner or other relevant service with which the prisoner has recently been in contact. It also sets out the circumstances in which information may be requested and disclosed without consent.

Mental health in-reach teams are now operating in 90 establishments with the greatest need, which means that prisoners with a severe mental illness are generally being cared for by the national health service. One of the key elements of this in-reach service is the maintenance of links with outside services in order to achieve continuity of care.

Sue Doughty

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate he has made of the(a) total prison population, (b) number of prisoners on remand and (c) number in each case suffering from severe or acute mental illness. [152943]

Paul Goggins

On 30 January 2004, there were 73,688 people in prison in England and Wales, of which 13,173 were remand prisoners. Information on the number of prisoners with severe or acute mental illness is not held centrally.

Using information collected from a survey of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners in England and Wales undertaken in 1997 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) it is estimated that there will at any one time be around 5,000 prisoners with a severe mental illness. Not all of these prisoners will necessarily be acutely ill.

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he is measuring the success of the three-year Proactive Project to reduce self-harm and suicides in prison; and when the results will be available. [154175]

Paul Goggins

Reducing the rate of self-inflicted deaths in prison establishments is an essential part of the Prison Service's decency agenda and a priority for Ministers. The three-year safer custody strategy to develop policies and practices to reduce prisoner suicide and manage self-harm in prisons, implemented from April 2001, has been under review during recent months. Account is being taken of emerging findings from in-house and external researchers, as well as the views of a wide range of practitioners and external interests, including Samaritans, Prison Reform Trust, Howard League and INQUEST.

I will be announcing the results of this work and next steps in the Spring. A team from the University of Cambridge is measuring the impact of the Safer Locals Programme on the quality of prison life, and investigating possible links between these measures and rates of suicide and self-harm. Early findings suggest that there are significant associations between levels of prisoner distress and an establishment's rates of self-inflicted death. Aspects of the quality of prison life that are associated with prisoner distress include distress on entry to custody, perceived safety, opportunities for personal development, and perceived fairness.

A team from Manchester and London Universities is also evaluating elements of the Safer Locals Programme, particularly Health care provision, detoxification services and a workstream called the Care of At-Risk Prisoners (revision of the 'self-harm at risk' From 2052SH) project. Additionally, researchers from the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science were commissioned to evaluate the impact of Safer Cells on Suicide and self-harm. The evaluation included observations, interview and focus groups with prisoners and staff in six prisons. The report, presented in August 2003, concluded that the safer cells programme has much to commend it and recommended that the programme continue.