Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what measures his Department has put in place to protect prisoners declaring themselves to be lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered from homophobic abuse and bullying while in detention.
Answered by Andrew Selous
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) will not tolerate violence of any kind in prisons and takes any instance extremely seriously. It insists on respectful and decent behaviour from staff, prisoners and others with whom we work. Where discrimination, harassment or bullying, either homophobic or for any other reason occurs, we take prompt and appropriate action. All violence (including bullying, victimisation and harassment), is dealt with quickly and robustly, with serious incidents referred to the police for prosecution.
Current policy contained in Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 64/2011 states that every verbal or physical act of violence must be challenged, and this includes bullying. Any prisoners engaging in violence, intimidation or bullying behaviour will have their privileges reviewed and may be subject to prosecution or disciplinary action.
NOMS is currently reviewing the policy and practice of the management of violence with the aim of issuing further guidance to prison staff in early 2015.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made on the level of academic attainment for incarcerated young offenders; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Selous
We are putting education and training at the heart of youth custody through the creation of Secure Colleges. These will be give young people the skills, qualifications and self-discipline needed to turn their back on crime and become productive members of society.
In addition, a competition is underway for new contracts which will aim to more than double the number of hours young people in Young Offenders Institutions spend in education each week.
Evidence relating to education in custody has been included in recent publications by the Ministry of Justice and Youth Justice Board (YJB). This information relates to the proportions of the young offenders in education and the classes / vocational training taken. The publications can be accessed via the following links:
- Ministry of Justice: Transforming Youth Custody Consultation (https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/transforming-youth-custody)
- Youth Justice Board: Young People and the Secure Estate: Needs and Intervention (http://cdn.basw.co.uk/upload/basw_30943-9.pdf)
- HM Inspectorate of Prisons: Children and Young People in Custody (http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/inspectorate-reports/hmipris/summaries-of-juvenile-survey-responses/hmip-children-young-people-in-custody-12-13.pdf)
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the Prison and Probation Ombudsman's (PPO) report on Learning from PPO Investigations: Risk factors in self-inflicted deaths in prisons.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
We will carefully consider the Ombudsman's recommendations made in the Learning Lessons Bulletin on Risk Factors in self-inflicted deaths in prison to identify further learning. I also refer the honourable member to the answer given to the Lord's Oral Question on 6 February 2014 (Official report Col 36 ), announcing that the Government hasestablished an Independent Review into the self-inflicted deaths of 18-24 year olds in NOMS custody. The review is being led by Lord Harris of Haringey and will report by Spring 2015. NOMS takes the safety of prisoners very seriously and draws learning from individual death in custody reports from the PPO as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent representations he has received from organisations concerned about the inclusion of books in the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme; and what assessment his Department has made of the effect the inclusion of books in that scheme will have on prisoner rehabilitation.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
There have always been controls on the sending of parcels into prisons, and allowing parcels to be sent in unrestricted would be operationally unmanageable and would lead to a significant risk of drugs and other illicit items being smuggled into prisons.
We have always recognised the importance of reading and literature in the rehabilitative process, and the positive effects this has on prisoners' welfare. The National Offender Management Service works closely with schemes such as the Shannon Trust reading network, which includes peer mentoring to improve reading levels.
The Howard League for Penal Reform, English PEN and Liberty have made representations concerning prisoner access to books. There have been no changes in the availability of books in prisons. Every prison has a library, to which every prisoner has access. Up to 12 books may be held by prisoners in their cell at any one time and additional volumes may be stored locally at the prison.