To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many strip searches were made on female prisoners in Her Majesty's prison, Maghaberry monthly since July, giving the number of persons involved and the number of times each person was searched; if any prison contraband, smuggled item 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 what were the reasons for the search;(2) how many strip searches were made on female prisoners in Her Majesty's prison, Maghaberry, monthly since July; giving the number of persons involved and the number of times each person was searched; if any prison contraband, smuggled item or illegal correspondence was discovered in any search, indicating which items; on how many cases prisoners refused to be searched and had to be restrained while the search was being conducted; and what were the reasons for the search.
Details of the numbers of and reasons for strip-searches made of female prisoners in Her Majesty's prison Maghaberry from March 1989 to June 1989 have already been provided—Official Report, 28 July 1989. Details from July 1989 to November 1989 are as follows:
July
| August
| September
| October
| November
| |
| Number of prisoners searched more than twice | — | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Reasons for search
| |||||
| First admission on remand/awaiting trial | 4 | 9 | 9 | 17 | 11 |
| First admission on sentence/final discharge | 9 | 24 | 19 | 12 | 9 |
| Attending remand court | — | — | — | — | — |
| Attending trial | — | — | — | — | — |
| Inter-prison visits | 1 | 1 | — | — | 2 |
| Pre-release home leave | 5 | 20 | 9 | 6 | 3 |
| Compassionate home leave | — | — | — | 4 | 2 |
| Visits to outside hospital | — | — | — | — | — |
| Returning from bail application | — | — | — | — | — |
| Attendance at court for bail | — | — | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Fines paid | — | — | — | — | — |
| Working out scheme | — | 2 | 2 | 12 | 4 |
No prohibited article was found during these searches and no prisoner refused to be searched.