asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many strip searches were made of female prisoners in Her Majesty's prison, Maghaberry, in February; if he will give the number of persons involved and the number of times each person was seached; whether any prison contraband, smuggled items or illegal correspondence was discovered in any search, indicating which items; in how many cases prisoners refused to be searched and had to be restrained while the search was being conducted; and if he will indicate the reasons for the search, namely making an appearance in court, and in which court, on remand, attending trial, inter-prison visit or other reasons.

Forty searches were carried out on 24 prisoners during February; Nine prisoners were searched once, 14 were searched twice and one prisoner was searched on three occasions. No prohibited article was found during these searches and no prisoner refused to be searched. The searches were carried out in the following circumstances.