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Prisons

Volume 178: debated on Monday 29 October 1990

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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will institute an inquiry into the leaking of information and photographs from Ford open prison.

Ford prison is an open establishment which occupies a 114 acre site and has no secure boundary. It may therefore be surveyed from many points within its grounds as well as from neighbouring properties, and despite all reasonable precautions taken by the governor and the police, certain prisoners were clearly photographed recently in this way. Furthermore, as prisoners have unlimited access to the telephone it is not possible to prevent them from communicating information.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any recommendations for improved surveillance by the use of video cameras at Her Majesty's prison Kingston (Portsmouth), have been rejected on the grounds of cost during the past year.

No. Closed circuit TV cameras have recently been installed at the establishment and a bid for an additional camera is currently under consideration.