Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2018 to Question 132158, on Prisons: Computers and Telephones, whether there were any prisons in which the pilot was started but ended before its scheduled completion.

We are piloting in-cell telephony and basic computers in two prisons – HMP Wayland and HMP Berwyn. The purpose is for prisoners to manage some of their own day-to-day tasks that would normally be managed by officers on paper, freeing up officers to focus their time on the important task of reforming offenders.

The pilot is still running in both prisons. We are monitoring and evaluating the benefits to assess the impact on prisoner safety and rehabilitation, and on officers’ ability to do their jobs more effectively.

Work has also been undertaken in preparation for piloting digital capabilities in a number of other sites, detail of which are below.

• HMP Durham, HMP Wandsworth, HMP Holme House, HMP High Down, HMP Kirklevington Grange, YOI Cookham Wood, HMP Eastwood Park, HMP Moorland, HMP Chelmsford, HMP Exeter, HMP Liverpool, HMP Leeds, HMP Bristol, HMP Swaleside, HMP Aylesbury, HMP Manchester and HMP Guys Marsh.