Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2016 to Question 25491, how many prisoners returned to jail having broken their licence conditions were subsequently found to be carrying concealed drugs in each of the last five years.

Prisoners recalled to custody having breached the conditions of their licence will be arrested by the police and then taken to the nearest local prison for the area in which they were arrested.

Once returned to a local prison, prisoners will be searched and risk assessed in line with the prison’s local policy for stopping contraband. Prisons deploy a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband both at the point of entry to the prison and concealed within the prison.

Prisoners found with drugs on entry to prison could receive a range of sanctions including days added to their sentence, or, in cases where the quantity of drug or packaging suggests possession with intent to supply, are referred to the police. All visitors or staff caught with drugs are referred to the police as supply is always suspected in these cases.

Data on the number of prisoners who were found with drugs following licence recall could only be collated at disproportionate cost.