Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Hollobone Excerpts
Tuesday 26th January 2016

(8 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Mike Penning Portrait Mike Penning
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One of the ways we can deal with that is by making sure that individual governors have full control within their prisons so that they can work with their staff to make sure that not only drugs, but alcohol, which is not supposed to be in our prisons, is not there. Much of that alcohol is brewed within the prisons and we need to work hard to make sure that we eradicate that.

Philip Hollobone Portrait Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
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We do not tolerate drugs in our prisons, but drugs use is widespread throughout every jail in this country. Is there any realistic prospect whatsoever of a drug-free prison establishment?

Mike Penning Portrait Mike Penning
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The Prison Service works very hard to try and make sure that we eradicate as many drugs as possible. The new legislation will help. We know that assaults on prison officers and inmates by people taking psychoactive substances have been prevalent and are a blight on our prisons. With the new legislation we will have powers that we did not have before.