Mentions:
1: Findlay, Russell (Con - West Scotland) To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to prevent drugs being smuggled into prisons. - Speech Link
2: Constance, Angela (SNP - Almond Valley) and preventing them from entering our prisons. - Speech Link
3: Findlay, Russell (Con - West Scotland) Scotland’s prisons are under siege from gangsters who control the drugs trade, with prison officers on - Speech Link
4: Whittle, Brian (Con - South Scotland) Meanwhile, His Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons has described six Scottish Prison Service-run prisons - Speech Link
5: Constance, Angela (SNP - Almond Valley) in comparison with public sector prisons. - Speech Link
Jan. 31 2008
Source Page: Prison policy update: briefing paper. 26 p.Found: Drugs˛There has been a ten fold increase in investment in drugs work in prisons in recent years and
Mentions:
1: Gibson, Kenneth (SNP - Cunninghame North) for the trafficking and administration of drugs, leading to a risk of the escalation in drug use and - Speech Link
2: Dowey, Sharon (Con - South Scotland) , delayed infrastructure projects and heightened risks in our prisons. - Speech Link
3: Clark, Katy (Lab - West Scotland) As has been said, prisons are becoming more dangerous, given the presence of drugs and the increasing - Speech Link
4: Constance, Angela (SNP - Almond Valley) increasing numbers of those in custody with links to serious and organised crime groups, challenges around drugs - Speech Link
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many former prison guards were found guilty of criminal offences in each year since 2015.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Information on how many former prison guards were found guilty of criminal offences in each year since 2015 is not centrally held.
This is because the information cannot be obtained from the administrative systems held for the public authority purposes by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service and the Ministry of Justice. If held, this information can only be obtained by accessing the case records themselves; these case records are held in the custody of the court for the purposes of the court, only.
The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.
HM Prison & Probation Service has a zero-tolerance policy to drugs conveyed into prisons and take appropriate action to a small number of prison staff who break the rules. Our £100 million Security Investment Programme, aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones, is ongoing. This includes increased resource to pursue corruption, as well as established a new ‘Prevent’ function, aimed at building staff resilience against corruption.
Mentions:
1: Dowey, Sharon (Con - South Scotland) What more should we be doing to ensure that drugs do not enter the prison estate? - Speech Link
2: None There are various methods in place to prevent drugs from coming into prisons. - Speech Link
3: None They are probably withdrawn from drugs or alcohol, and they are in a different sort of circumstance. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Derek Twigg (Lab - Halton) The problem of course is that in too many prisons there is a high incidence of drugs getting in, so what - Speech Link
2: Alex Chalk (Con - Cheltenham) Member is right: it is of course really important that we tackle drugs coming into prisons. - Speech Link
3: Edward Argar (Con - Charnwood) We have the £100 million security measures to tackle illicit drugs and mobile phones—the sorts of things - Speech Link
4: Alex Chalk (Con - Cheltenham) resolved in the magistrates court, which includes burglaries, thefts, assaults, criminal damage and drugs - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab - Life peer) I understand they are doing it because the prisons are too full. - Speech Link
2: Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) prisons such as Wandsworth. - Speech Link
3: Lord Bellamy (Con - Life peer) I would encourage noble Lords to visit those very modern and effective prisons. - Speech Link
4: Lord Howell of Guildford (Con - Life peer) into line with civilised patterns in other countries and away from the problems with overcrowding and drugs - Speech Link
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been dismissed for (a) supplying and (b) transporting drugs in prison in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.
HM Prison & Probation Service has a zero-tolerance policy to drugs conveyed into prisons and take appropriate action in respect of the small number of prison staff who break the rules. Our £100m Security Investment Programme (SIP), aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones, is ongoing. This includes increased resource to pursue corruption, as well as established a new ‘Prevent’ function, aimed at building staff resilience against corruption.
Our £100 million Security Investment Programme aimed to improve security with a focus on technology, such as X-ray body scanners. This aimed to improve our ability to detect and disrupt drugs from entering prisons, supported by enhancements to intelligence and counter corruption capabilities.
Over the last few years, we have continued to increase in capacity and deliver our counter-corruption strategy. Through the £100m SIP investment over 100 new staff were also recruited into the Counter-Corruption Unit. This includes regional Prevent teams dedicated to building staff resilience through training, awareness raising and individual support.
Given the investment and measures outlined above, the increase in instances outlined below may reflect better detecting and reporting of drugs conveyance, as opposed to an increase in activity.
*Prison Officer (and PCO) Conveyance of Drugs 2019- Dec 2023 | |
Year | Amount |
2019 | 10 |
2020 | 19 |
2021 | 16 |
2022 | 21 |
2023 | 21 |
Source: Linkspace Case Management System.
Notes:
Linkspace is the Counter Corruption Unit’s (CCU) Case Management System used to record and track cases linked to corruption.
Data provided by the Counter Corruption (CCU) have the following Caveats applied below;
1) Prior to April 2019, corruption in HMPPS was managed by the Corruption Prevention Unit (CPU). The CPU was a largely centralised unit focused on sanitising and disseminating all corruption related intelligence to the Police, with an individual Regional Corruption
Prevention Manager (RCPM) in each geographical region offering advice and support to prisons in managing corruption, hence data prior to April 2019 is not available.
2) ‘Supplying and transporting’ of drugs in a prison falls under the definition of ‘conveyance of drugs’ and recorded on the CCU’s Case Management System to cases linked to drugs related offences.
3) Data includes Prison Custodial Officer (PCO) and they are the equivalent to a Prison Officer in a privately run establishment.
Correspondence May. 23 2024
Committee: Welsh Affairs Committee (Department: Wales Office)Found: : www.parliament.uk From the Chair 22 May 2024 Rt Hon Edward Argar MP Minister for Prisons
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the positive rate for random mandatory drug tests carried out at HMP Wandsworth was in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The latest period for which random mandatory drug tests (rMDT) data is available is the year April 2022 to March 2023 (2022-2023). 18% of random mandatory drug tests (rMDT) in Wandsworth were positive for either traditional or psychoactive drugs throughout 2022-23.
We are doing more to tackle the supply of drugs in prisons. Our £100m Security Investment Programme completed in March 2022 and delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners, supplying full coverage across the closed male estate. We have also installed 84 X-ray baggage scanners at 49 sites, drug detection machines and metal detection archways. Furthermore, we are taking steps to support individuals with substance misuse issues in prison. We have dramatically increased the number of incentivised substance-free living units, where prisoners commit to living drug-free with incentives and regular testing. Over 70 prisons now have an ISFL, up from 25 in summer 2022.