Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria need to be satisfied to allow family visits of prisoners to resume; what date they plan to resume family visits of prisoners; and what plans they have to provide more video-capable telephones in prisons.

Social visits in adult prisons have been suspended during the period of national lockdown, but will resume once it is safe to do so.

Decisions will be based on public health advice, assessments of local outbreaks and ability to safely facilitate visits, and so dates may vary between different sites. No sites will resume visits before the end of March when the ‘stay at home’ order is expected to be lifted under the government roadmap on easing restrictions.

Visits to children in the youth custody estate and compassionate visits to adult establishments have continued throughout national lockdown.

Secure video calls have now been introduced at all prisons across England and Wales, though there are no plans to provide video-capable telephones at this time. Currently 66% of prison cells have in-cell telephony. Additionally, within open prisons, mobile phones have been permitted as a transitional measure for family contact. Further considerations for their use are being made in line with regime recovery and availability of secure video calls across all open prisons.