SHOCK OVER 'LAX' RECORDS AT PRISONS

THE Government faced fresh fire over its record on prisons last
night, after it admitted two institutions in the North-East were
failing to keep records on items confiscated from visitors.

The Ministry of Justice said it had reminded all North prisons that
they must keep records of all items seized, in line with a national
security framework employed by the Prison Service.

The admission that two prisons - Durham, and Northallerton, North
Yorkshire - were failing to keep information on such seizures came
about following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from The Northern Echo.

advertisementLast night, the Government was attacked over its "lax"
approach on security, with Tories saying a lack of proper record
keeping was masking the problem of items being smuggled in.

The Northern Echo had asked the Ministry of Justice, in an FOI
request, what items had been confiscated from visitors to Durham, Low
Newton Women's Prison, Frankland and Deerbolt, all County Durham;
Kirklevington and Holme House, both Teesside; and Northallerton.

In a reply received from civil servants almost four months after the
original request, the Ministry said that Durham and Northallerton
prisons did not collate the information requested.

Meanwhile, Deerbolt, Frankland, Low Newton, and Kirklevington prisons
had no record of any instances of items being confiscated from
visitors, despite having a recording system.

The only figures given were of 31 drugs confiscations from visitors
to Holme House, near Stockton, in the 13 months to last December.

The Ministry said confiscations from visitors were not recorded there
before November 2006.

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said: "Prisons should be places
of security, yet we know they are rife, certainly with drugs and mobile phones.

"Proper monitoring of visits is essential and there should be records
of all items confiscated so we can have a clear idea about the scale
of the problem and which prisons need to do more to improve security."

Colin Moses, national chairman of the Prison Officers' Association,
said he was surprised at the lack of proper record keeping.

He also said he believed the figure for drugs seizures from visitors
to Holme House was much higher, a problem he was particularly concerned about.

In 2003, the Echo revealed how drug "mules", equipped with fake IDs,
were being paid to ferry drugs into prisons in the region.

The newspaper also revealed the length to which some visitors to
Holme House go in smuggling illegal substances, such as hiding them
in babies' nappies or behind stamps on letters.

Mr Moses, a former North-East prison officer, said: "This response is
a clear indication of how lax the prison authorities are when it
comes to the threat posed by drugs and other items.

"I am surprised, for instance, that there is a lack of proper record
keeping at some institutions.

These figures' show that the Government doesn't take drug taking in
prisons very seriously at all, certainly when it comes to stopping
substances being smuggled in and recording such instances.

"This puts the public at risk, because when prisoners are released
they are released as drug addicts and drug dealers and carry on with
this behaviour."

Mr Moses said he believed problems with staffing had also led to
reductions in the number of searches by prison officers.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said in a statement: "Prisons in
the North-East have now been reminded that they must keep records of
all confiscated items in line with the Prison Service National
Security Framework.

"There are strict measures in place to tackle visitors who smuggle or
attempt to smuggle drugs or other items into prisons.

"These include imposing closed' visits through a glass screen, where
visitors are suspected of being involved in smuggling, visit bans,
and arrest and prosecution where there is sufficient evidence.

"Visitor biometric systems are in place in 34 prisons and there is
CCTV surveillance and low-level furniture in most social visit areas
in all Category C prisons and above, to make it more difficult to
pass drugs or other items."

The spokeswoman said it was also looking at the possibility of more
rigorous searches and more sniffer and search dogs in prisons.