Our prison system needs reform. There is much more to do to ensure prisons are places of decency, hope and rehabilitation.<\/p>
Violence in prisons has increased in recent years. The nature of offenders currently in custody and the widespread availability of novel psychoactive substances have both contributed to making prisons less safe. There is no single, simple solution to the problems we face but we are making progress.<\/p>
We have launched a two year Violence Reduction project to reduce violent incidents and the propensity of violence in prisons. This project will help us to gain a better understanding of the causes and characteristics of violence in prisons and to strengthen the handling of this. We are also trialling the use of body worn cameras in prisons, developing better case management of individuals identified as being at heightened risk of harming others, introducing a psychologically based assessment tool to understand better local factors driving violence in prisons, and training sniffer dogs to detect novel psychoactive substances. We have also made it an offence to smuggle novel psychoactive substances into prison. However, ultimately the only way to reduce violence in our prisons is to give governors and those who work in prisons the tools necessary to more effectively reform and rehabilitate offenders, which we are determined to see through.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1453", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andrew Selous"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South West Bedfordshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Andrew Selous"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2016-01-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2016-01-19T17:56:50.847Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2016-01-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Prisons: Crimes of Violence"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the level of violence in prisons.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4035", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Steve Rotheram"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Liverpool, Walton"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Steve Rotheram"} ], "uin" : "22544"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/423384", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/423384/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Every self-inflicted death is a tragedy and we are committed to reducing the number of self-inflicted deaths in prisons.<\/p>
All prisons are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves, and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has put in place additional resources to undertake this safer custody work. NOMS is also reviewing the operation of the case management process for prisoners assessed as being at risk and the Government is considering the recommendations of Lord Harris\u2019 Review into the deaths in custody of young adults.<\/p>
HMP Liverpool is implementing the recommendations arising out of the most recent inspection by Her Majesty\u2019s Inspectorate of Prisons, published on 20 October 2015. The prison has a full safer custody team, which has been allocated additional resources to support prisoners identified as being at risk. It operates a Listener peer support service in partnership with the Samaritans and will shortly be opening an early days centre to improve support for new prisoners.<\/p>
HMP Altcourse has a local safer custody improvement plan that includes improvements to the support offered to prisoners in their early days. It also operates a Listener scheme with the support of the Samaritans.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1453", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andrew Selous"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South West Bedfordshire"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Andrew Selous"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-11-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-11-09T13:06:51.767Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2015-10-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Prisoners: Liverpool"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to support suicidal and vulnerable inmates in (a) HMP Liverpool and (b) HMP Altcourse.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4035", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Steve Rotheram"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Liverpool, Walton"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Steve Rotheram"}
], "uin" : "12986"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/423391", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/423391/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Governor and staff at Liverpool are determined to improve the prison and action is already being taken to address the recommendations made in the most recent report. We are working closely with Lancashire Care NHS Trust to improve the healthcare provisions. More prisoners are out of their cells in work, training or education, and a range of initiatives are also in hand to reduce violence.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1453", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andrew Selous"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South West Bedfordshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Andrew Selous"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-11-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-11-23T15:41:58.007Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-10-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Liverpool Prison"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the (a) cleanliness, (b) degree of crowding and (c) safety of (i) prisoners and (ii) prison staff in HMP Liverpool.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4035", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Steve Rotheram"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Liverpool, Walton"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Steve Rotheram"} ], "uin" : "13092"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/423392", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/423392/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
NOMS does not tolerate violence of any kind in prison and any assault is treated extremely seriously. Any prisoner who commits an act of violence can expect to have action taken against them.<\/p>