Speeches

Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) working at height and (b) concerted indiscipline incidents have been recorded in each prison since May 2010.

Andrew Selous

The vast majority of incidents at height are minor in nature and resolved quickly and professionally without injury, damage or disruption to the running of the prison. Many are short in duration, lasting less than 15 minutes and the majority occur when prisoners go onto netting on prison wings. Each incident is investigated fully to ensure lessons are learnt and best practice in managing incidents is shared across NOMS.

These figures show that the Prime Minister and Justice Secretary are right and our prisons badly need reform. We are making progress: we have made it illegal to smuggle new psychoactive substances (NPS) into prisons and have trained over 300 sniffer dogs to detect NPS and are trialling the use of body worn cameras with front-line staff. But the only way to reduce disorder and violence in our prisons is to give those who work in prisons the tools necessary to better reform and rehabilitate offenders.

The table below provides numbers of incidents at height reported between May 2010 and November 2015, broken down by establishment. The information requested on concerted indiscipline incidents can be found in my response to PQ 28151.

Number of Incident at Height by prisons, England and Wales, May 2010 to November 2015

Establishments

Incident at Height

Altcourse

242

Ashfield

21

Ashwell

0

Aylesbury

41

Bedford

39

Belmarsh

14

Birmingham

158

Blundeston

6

Brinsford

27

Bristol

37

Brixton

24

Bronzefield

21

Buckley Hall

18

Bullingdon

29

Cardiff

20

Channings Wood

79

Chelmsford

54

Coldingley

19

Cookham Wood

2

Dartmoor

37

Deerbolt

15

Doncaster

140

Dorchester

5

Dovegate

91

Dover

9

Downview

1

Drake Hall

1

Durham

74

Eastwood Park

14

Erlestoke

20

Everthorpe

18

Exeter

36

Featherstone

36

Feltham

106

Ford

0

Forest Bank

64

Foston Hall

4

Frankland

7

Full Sutton

11

Garth

11

Gartree

6

Glen Parva

52

Gloucester

7

Guys Marsh

54

Haslar

0

Hatfield

1

Haverigg

120

Hewell

71

High Down

85

Highpoint

42

Hindley

299

Holloway

1

Holme House

39

Hull

20

Humber

53

Huntercombe

8

IOW: Albany

1

IOW: Camp Hill

36

IOW: Parkhurst

2

Isis

59

Isle of Wight

19

Kennet

3

Kingston

1

Lancaster Castle

1

Lancaster Farms

117

Leeds

90

Leicester

77

Lewes

23

Leyhill

0

Lincoln

126

Lindholme

159

Littlehey

9

Liverpool

187

Long Lartin

7

Lowdham Grange

111

Maidstone

4

Manchester

108

Moorland

46

Morton Hall

11

Mount

38

New Hall

3

Northallerton

7

Northumberland

71

Northumberland: Acklington

5

Northumberland: Castington

1

Norwich

46

Nottingham

290

Oakwood

174

Onley

33

Parc

197

Pentonville

100

Peterborough

44

Portland

58

Preston

45

Ranby

162

Reading

14

Risley

53

Rochester

80

Rye Hill

97

Send

1

Sheppey: Elmley

56

Sheppey: Swaleside

33

Shrewsbury

4

Stafford

37

Stocken

72

Stoke Heath

33

Styal

10

Sudbury

1

Swansea

12

Swinfen Hall

46

Thameside

76

Thorn Cross

0

UskPrescoed

1

Verne

4

Wakefield

10

Wandsworth

84

Warren Hill

2

Wayland

41

Wealstun

16

Wellingborough

10

Werrington

194

Wetherby

158

Whatton

0

Whitemoor

13

Winchester

114

Wolds

12

Woodhill

138

Wormwood Scrubs

33

Wymott

52