Annex E
Note by the Home Office
SECURITY MEASURES PROPOSED BY THE CHIEF INSPECTOR
OF PRISONS
"LOCKED ARCH"
MACHINE
The machine works in the following way: an individual
would step into the archway and a door would close behind them,
enclosing them in a small room. A sample of the air inside this
"room" would then be taken and analysed by the machine
to identify the presence of drugs.
The Prison Service has already commissioned
research on machinery to aid in the detection of drugs. Manufacturers
of such equipment were invited to submit their machines for assessment
in order to determine those which were most suitable to the needs
of the Prison Service; these could then be subject to trials.
No manufacturer submitted a design for a "locked arch".
The Police Scientific Development Branch are examining the use
of machines which can detect the presence of drugs by use of a
swab. The most promising machine so far is a machine made by "Barringer"
which appears to be user-friendly, ergonomic and produces the
most reliable results, but there are other machines still under
consideration.
This type of machine operates by running a swab
over skin or clothing which is then analysed by the machine, which
can identify the presence of drugs broken down by group within
a very short space of time. Site trials of these machines will
be undertaken shortly. Recommendations about the use of these
machines will be made in due course. There are, of course, resource
and management implications attached to the use of such equipment.
This will form part of the overall consideration, as will the
issue of whether "sniffer" machines are more effective
than dogs in detecting the presence of drugs.
PASSIVE DRUG
DOGS
Presently, 22 prison establishments have dog
sections; these are based at dispersals and core local prisons.
They are supported by the National Dog Support Group which provides
training and is responsible for the maintenance and oversight
of the treatment of dogs. These dog sections include active and
passive animals, some of which are dual purpose. A further 50
establishments have an active or passive dog presence (some have
both). The National Dog Support Group have a team of 18 dogs which
are available on request to establishments for general searching
purposes or to meet an immediate operational need.
There are a number of issues to be considered
concerning the Chief Inspector's suggestion that passive dogs
are used to patrol landings at night. The first concerns the training
of the dogs; the second sufficient resources to ensure that such
patrols could work both effectively and safely.
Passive dogs are trained to detect drugs on
a person and would be unlikely to give an indication outside a
cell door as they are not trained to do this. Active drug dogs
are trained to seek out concealed drugs, but if a prisoner were
smoking out of the window there might not be a sufficiently strong
scent for the dog to identify.
Additional staff would also need to be present
to search both the prisoner and the cell once a dog had given
an indication that drugs were present. The number of staff required
to do this are currently not available at night. Additionally,
the security of the prison would also be compromised if inmates
were unlocked at night without sufficient staff present. Finally,
once the cell was searched, and if nothing were found, the prisoner
would need to be subjected to an "on suspicion" mandatory
drug test to find out whether drugs had in fact been consumed.
Again, sufficient staff would need to be present to ensure that
the activity could be managed.
It is for the Governor of each establishment
to decide when dogs should be used. A current review of the management
of the National Dog Support Group is considering how to make best
use of overall resources.
June 1998
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