Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of X-ray body scanners in prisons in England and Wales.
We are taking urgent and decisive action to stop contraband from entering our prisons. These illicit items pose a significant threat to safety and security.
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) initially trialled the use of X-ray body scanners in a small number of prisons. Based on learning from these trial sites, a significant investment was made in 2018/19 to purchase 18 newly-designed body scanners for the establishments in the 10 Prisons Project and for the Long Term and High Security estate.
We believe X-ray scanning technology provides an effective method of confirming whether a prisoner is attempting to smuggle contraband via internal concealment.
The future rollout and tendering of a HMPPS specific contract for X-ray body scanning technology will commence formally later in 2019.