Speeches

Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 18875, in which prisons each of those mobile telephones and sim cards were detected in each of those years; and what the number of such detections was per prisoner in each of those years.

Andrew Selous

Mobile phones have no place in our prisons and we have invested in technology to prevent their use. But more needs to be done, and we will look at new ways of finding and blocking them. It is a criminal offence to possess a mobile phone or component part in a prison.

The Chancellor announced in the spending review that we will invest in more safety improvements to stamp out the organisation of crime from within prisons, including funding for tackling illicit mobile phones and investing in body scanners.

The table below provides the number of ‘‘finds’ of mobile phones and/or SIM cards reported by each prison between April 2010, when recording started, and December 2014. One ‘find’ may constitute a handset containing one SIM card or media card, a handset only, or a SIM card only.

Table: Number of mobile phone and SIM card finds broken down by prison.

ESTABLISHMENT

2010*

2011

2012

2013

2014

2010*-2014 total

ACKLINGTON

63

28

91

ALBANY

0

3

4

0

7

ALTCOURSE (C)

790

609

534

290

689

2912

ASHFIELD(C)

1

2

2

0

0

5

ASHWELL

2

7

9

ASKHAM GRANGE

0

0

2

1

0

3

AYLESBURY

278

97

29

176

130

710

BEDFORD

27

55

29

53

28

192

BELMARSH

15

25

9

126

180

355

BIRMINGHAM (C)

248

537

302

133

140

1360

BLANTYRE HOUSE

19

12

4

3

14

52

BLUNDESTON

27

1

11

6

45

BRINSFORD

12

76

45

182

200

515

BRISTOL

54

33

26

32

37

182

BRIXTON

46

67

28

23

41

205

BRONZEFIELD(C)

34

12

3

13

18

80

BUCKLEY HALL

11

22

149

111

197

490

BULLINGDON

42

16

6

23

51

138

BULLWOOD HALL

1

8

15

1

25

BURE

5

1

0

1

0

7

CAMP HILL

98

52

22

1

173

CANTERBURY

22

10

21

7

60

CARDIFF

19

36

7

9

14

85

CASTINGTON

10

11

21

CHANNINGS WOOD

64

63

15

39

34

215

CHELMSFORD

42

38

11

4

4

99

COLDINGLEY

37

52

42

106

34

271

COOKHAM WOOD

6

1

1

1

0

9

DARTMOOR

27

16

2

11

42

98

DEERBOLT

3

15

2

4

25

49

DONCASTER(C)

15

6

24

182

419

646

DORCHESTER

20

14

8

5

1

48

DOVEGATE (C)

5

24

15

30

51

125

DOVER

14

21

10

5

2

52

DOWNVIEW

5

5

2

1

0

13

DRAKE HALL

10

2

3

0

4

19

DURHAM

24

41

23

20

0

108

EAST SUTTON PARK

1

5

4

6

1

17

EASTWOOD PARK

3

9

1

6

9

28

EDMUNDS HILL

25

22

47

ELMLEY

45

47

53

103

308

556

ERLESTOKE

62

176

137

98

83

556

EVERTHORPE

50

32

26

45

19

172

EXETER

14

21

15

16

7

73

FEATHERSTONE

39

29

133

42

128

371

FELTHAM

84

65

45

22

27

243

FORD

61

250

200

202

270

983

FOREST BANK (C)

122

37

105

165

258

687

FOSTON HALL

0

1

2

6

2

11

FRANKLAND

6

2

7

0

5

20

FULL SUTTON

10

4

9

2

10

35

GARTH

76

32

39

33

36

216

GARTREE

14

22

65

57

20

178

GLEN PARVA

2

4

8

3

4

21

GLOUCESTER

1

4

3

0

8

GRENDON

17

10

3

0

1

31

GUYS MARSH

77

182

175

54

75

563

HASLAR

0

0

2

0

0

2

HATFIELD

10

58

154

96

104

422

HAVERIGG

107

134

291

172

95

799

HEWELL

76

289

335

166

366

1232

HIGHDOWN

23

68

49

61

164

365

HIGHPOINT

80

55

180

203

214

732

HINDLEY

1

4

6

1

9

21

HOLLESLEY BAY

193

129

90

120

59

591

HOLLOWAY

7

7

10

5

8

37

HOLME HOUSE

18

15

5

9

105

152

HULL

23

25

13

2

2

65

HUNTERCOMBE

2

36

9

26

34

107

ISIS

8

52

39

18

4

121

ISLE OF WIGHT

0

4

4

KENNET

4

5

9

8

35

61

KINGSTON

6

0

0

0

6

KIRKHAM

273

390

493

488

526

2170

KIRKLEVINGTON GRANGE

13

15

19

9

19

75

LANCASTER CASTLE

18

18

LANCASTER FARMS

89

79

25

117

92

402

LATCHMERE HOUSE

69

40

109

LEEDS

53

59

27

8

7

154

LEICESTER

27

26

15

9

24

101

LEWES

38

46

30

51

140

305

LEYHILL

83

27

30

49

42

231

LINCOLN

28

33

4

1

3

69

LINDHOLME

164

96

145

63

70

538

LITTLEHEY

13

34

4

2

7

60

LIVERPOOL

138

118

88

65

15

424

LONG LARTIN

12

31

77

28

34

182

LOW NEWTON

0

3

0

0

1

4

LOWDHAM GRANGE (C)

27

10

26

24

2

89

MAIDSTONE

6

34

22

26

38

126

MANCHESTER

41

36

23

12

8

120

MOORLAND

111

65

13

20

52

261

MOORLAND OPEN

10

10

MORTON HALL

0

4

5

2

5

16

MOUNT

86

78

182

220

111

677

NEW HALL

2

0

1

1

0

4

NORTH SEA CAMP

86

63

67

61

48

325

NORTHALLERTON

0

7

3

11

21

NORTHUMBERLAND (C)

15

109

130

170

424

NORWICH

30

15

11

18

66

140

NOTTINGHAM

11

38

17

16

136

218

OAKWOOD (C)

0

0

33

194

181

408

ONLEY

53

68

65

85

197

468

PARC (C)

32

79

16

16

30

173

PARKHURST

6

8

20

16

50

PENTONVILLE

207

199

124

149

282

961

PETERBOROUGH (C)

141

145

60

44

51

441

PORTLAND

24

6

11

10

0

51

PRESCOED

0

2

4

4

9

19

PRESTON

18

15

9

12

98

152

RANBY

90

124

300

229

261

1004

READING

12

25

7

5

49

RISLEY

72

12

37

84

30

235

ROCHESTER

6

10

23

60

145

244

RYE HILL (C)

42

79

70

113

71

375

SEND

3

12

11

13

8

47

SHEPTON MALLET

3

7

4

1

15

SHREWSBURY

3

0

0

0

3

SPRING HILL

12

13

34

117

104

280

STAFFORD

12

69

14

70

7

172

STANDFORD HILL

150

186

127

270

159

892

STOCKEN

26

12

30

11

38

117

STOKE HEATH

8

28

19

44

100

199

STYAL

7

7

9

13

10

46

SUDBURY

72

120

124

134

102

552

SWALESIDE

100

58

107

103

241

609

SWANSEA

2

0

1

61

2

66

SWINFEN HALL

32

44

14

10

18

118

THAMESIDE (C)

0

0

8

98

33

139

THORN CROSS

74

79

84

109

141

487

USK

2

1

1

1

3

8

VERNE

67

144

161

50

3

425

WAKEFIELD

1

2

3

4

4

14

WANDSWORTH

157

131

119

119

163

689

WARREN HILL

5

10

5

0

1

21

WAYLAND

20

30

17

15

34

116

WEALSTUN

57

145

155

120

330

807

WELLINGBOROUGH

61

195

181

1

438

WERRINGTON

12

4

9

6

7

38

WETHERBY

5

3

5

1

2

16

WHATTON

9

1

0

3

5

18

WHITEMOOR

18

28

17

9

1

73

WINCHESTER

39

3

31

21

9

103

WOLDS

104

96

44

23

54

321

WOODHILL

4

58

74

64

74

274

WORMWOOD SCRUBS

141

267

39

128

248

823

WYMOTT

58

50

11

34

52

205

Subtotal

6758

7786

7301

7451

9745

*April to December only.

(C) denotes a privately operated prison

Note: The following prisons closed during the reporting period:

HMP Ashwell – April 2011

HMP Lancaster Castle – March 2011

HMP Latchmere House – April 2012

HMP Wellingborough – December 2012

HMP Bullwood Hall – March 2013

HMP Canterbury – March 2013

HMP Gloucester – March 2013

HMP Kingston – March 2013

HMP Shepton Mallet – March 2013

HMP Dorchester – January 2014

HMP Shrewsbury – March 2013

HMP Camp Hill – March 2013

HMP Blundeston – January 2014

HMP Northallerton – January 2014

HMP Reading – January 2014

HMYOI Moorland Open was renamed HMYOI Hatfield in the autumn of 2010

HMPs Acklington and Castington became HMP Northumberland in October 2011

HMP Edmunds Hill merged into HMP Highpoint in July 2012

HMPs Albany and Parkhurst became HMP Isle of Wight in February 2013

All figures in this answer have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. The data are not subject to audit.

We do not collect data on the number of detections of mobile phones and SIM cards in a way that would enable us to provide a meaningful rate of detection per prisoner.