The Prison Service takes very seriously any attempt to smuggle drugs. The firmest possible action is taken against prisoners and visitors caught supplying drugs. The Offender Management Act 2007 creates a specific criminal offence of smuggling drugs into prisons. I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave on 26 November 2007, Official Report, column 89W.
A comprehensive framework is in place for dealing with visitors who seek to smuggle drugs through visits. The number of visitors suspected of involvement in drug smuggling incidents and the action taken internally by prisons along with the number of visitors arrested is detailed in the following table.
No record is kept of the number of visitors found to be in possession of illegal drugs but a good indication is the number arrested.
These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
1999-20001 2000-07 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Visitors suspected of smuggling drugs 3,144 3,282 4,030 3,502 3,598 4,283 15,422 3,393 Visitors banned 2,464 2,584 2,941 2,625 2,730 2,092 3,574 2,729 Visitors on closed visits 322 333 627 625 528 880 1,374 494 Incidents involving visitor arrests2 735 509 529 405 456 444 440 383 1 The first year in which visits ban data became available. 2 Number of reported drug incidents in which a visitor was suspected of involvement and arrested by police. A particular incident may involve more than one arrest.
Data covering the 2007-08 financial year are not yet available.