Review Of Strip Searching In Prisons

EDM number 260 in 1997-98, proposed by Lynne Jones on 16/07/1997.

That this House welcomes the review currently being undertaken by the Prison Service into strip searching policy; is alarmed by the evidence highlighting the short-term suffering and long-term problems experienced by victims of strip searching; believes that this evidence should be carefully weighed against the uncertain merits of strip searching as against rub-down searches and searches with metal detectors; rejects the necessity for strip searching prisoners on inter prison visits and at remand hearings when they are at all times accompanied by prison officers; is appalled by allegations that strip searching is used to intimidate and harass particular minority groups in custody, such as ethnic minorities, Irish women and homosexuals; urges the immediate introduction of measures to record and monitor all incidences of strip searching and the frequency of detection of illicit articles; calls for stricter regulation of random strip searching in prisons; and recommends that policy developments in this sphere should give close consideration to technological advances in surveillance equipment and electronic metal detectors.

This motion has been signed by a total of 27 MPs.