Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Cooper Excerpts

Tuesday 6th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

Yes.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

8. What steps she is taking to reduce the number of assaults, incidents of self-harm and deaths in prison.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Sam Gyimah)]

We take the safety of prisoners in our jails extremely seriously. It is of paramount importance that they are kept safe and given the opportunity to reform.

[Rosie Cooper]

At the Justice Committee last week, the prisons Minister said in reply to a question regarding the recent escape from Her Majesty’s Prison Pentonville, that the frequency of cell searches was determined locally by the governor. Does he remain satisfied that the coalition decision to end daily cell searches was right, or does he think they might have prevented this escape and limited the use of mobile phones, drugs and weapons?

[Mr Gyimah]

Cell searches are carried out on an intelligence-led basis at establishment level. In addition, we are investing £3 million on a regional and national intelligence network so that we can identify where phones, for example, are being smuggled in to aid criminal activities in our prisons and deal with such situations appropriately.