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Written question asked by Simon Lightwood (Labour) on Friday, 21 October 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 26 October 2022 (named day). It was answered by Rob Butler (Conservative) on Wednesday, 26 October 2022 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.


Prisons: Security

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of X-ray scanners deployed to prevent illegal items entering prisons; and whether he plans to roll these out to all prisons.

Answer

We have invested £100m to combat crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones.

Since 2020, we have installed an additional 75 x-ray body scanners, bringing the total to 97 and providing coverage to the entire closed male estate. As of April 2022, there have been approximately 20,000 positive indications recorded.

A full evaluation of our security investments is underway and will be published in 2023. Further deployment of x-ray body scanners across the prison estate will be informed by the results of this evaluation.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
68606
Session
2022-23
Subjects
Prisons Security X-rays
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk