In recognition of the importance of continued contact with family and to ensure stability in our jails the Government has moved quickly to keep prisoners in touch with their family members by the introduction of 900 secure mobile PIN phones for those prisons which do not already have in-cell telephony. These are in addition to, but operate in the same way, as wing PIN phones which remain in use.<\/p>
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Behaviour is not part of the formal risk assessment for the allocation of mobile telephones for prisoners\u2019 use. Access to the locked mobile PIN phones is given following completion of a risk assessment, for those deemed to represent the greatest risk to the public and require additional safeguards approval must be given by the Governing Governor.<\/p>
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There has been no recent assessment of the impact of mobile PIN telephone use on families in the absence of visits. However, Lord Farmer\u2019s Report in June 2019, \u201cThe Importance of Strengthening Female Offenders' Family and other Relationships to Prevent Reoffending and Reduce Intergenerational Crime\u201d shows that facilitating regular family contact can reduce a prisoners\u2019 likelihood of reoffending by 39%. Family members are also able to contact the National Prisoners\u2019 Families helpline or the prison\u2019s safer custody line if they have individual concerns.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4538", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Keen of Elie"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-05-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-05-07T16:01:34.967Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-04-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Prisoners: Mobile Phones"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the opportunity for a prisoner to use a mobile telephone is determined by their good conduct; and what assessment they have made of the impact of mobile telephone usage on preventing the breakup of families in the absence of visits.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2018", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Hylton"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Hylton"} ], "uin" : "HL3395"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }