Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle criminal activity and drug abuse in prisons.

Our prisons face a range of security challenges stemming from criminal activity, including the availability of drugs and mobile phones in prison. We must strengthen security and searching to make it much more difficult for anyone to get contraband into prisons. As part of the Ten Prison Project we are using technology to search letters, bags and people on entry to the estate. More widely, we are closing down other routes, such as by using netting to prevent drone flights and throw-overs. We are also using dedicated search teams and phone-detection technology to locate contraband that does get in.

Assisted by our investment in intelligence teams, a new Financial Investigations Unit, a new Serious Organised Crime Unit and the changes we have made to our dedicated counter-corruption unit, we work with law enforcement partners to disrupt criminal activity pro-actively and help obtain convictions. As a result, prisoners who break the law in prison should expect to be sanctioned according to the severity of the crime, with serious crimes being referred to the police for investigation. The revisions that we are making, together with the Crown Prosecution Service and the police, to our cross-agency protocol on how crimes in prison should be handled will further assist our efforts in this area.

The steps we are taking to reduce drug misuse are set out in the Prison Drug Strategy published on 3 April. This sets out the co-ordinated response needed to deal with the scourge of drugs which are fuelling record levels of violence. In common with the Government’s Drug Strategy, the Prison Drug Strategy is centred around three objectives – restricting supply, reducing demand and building recovery. This coordinated approach will better protect staff and prisoners and create conditions for offenders to get the help they need to turn their lives around.