HMP La Moye remains without a body scanner, forcing all prisoners – including women – to undergo strip searches, it has emerged.
A recent independent inspection of HMP La Moye found that the facility had not recieved government funding for the security measure, despite its potential to reduce invasive searches.
“Because the prison did not have a body scanner to detect secreted items, all prisoners, including women, were strip searched,” the HM Prisons Inspectorate reported.
“The decision to do this was not always sufficiently justified or evidenced by, for example, a current and individualised risk assessment.”
Questioned on the funding issue by scrutiny politicians yesterday and whether a request had been rejected, Home Affairs Chief Officer Kate Briden said that it was “in the pipeline”.
The revelation came as officials confirmed a recruitment process for a new prison governor will begin in the coming weeks, with a permanent appointment expected to be in place by the end of the year.
The post has been vacant since Jersey’s former prison governor Susie Richardsin resigned last year, citing “frustration” with government processes blocking improvement.
Ms Briden said that the prison is currently being run by an acting governor who oversaw the facility during the inspection by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor in November.
“We are agreed that the right thing to do is to recruit externally for a prison governor at this stage, but that will be on a three-year fixed-term contract,” she said.
Ms Briden explained this approach will give the current acting governor time to gain the necessary qualifications and experience to be considered for the role in the future.
The recruitment process will include bringing external candidates to the island for a familiarisation visit before formal interviews.
The panel also heard that a scheme to transfer non-Jersey residents from HMP La Moye to UK prisons has resumed after being temporarily halted.
According to the inspection report, approximately 10% of Jersey’s prison population consists of non-residents who were unable to transfer to UK mainland prisons to be closer to their families.
Home Affairs Minister Deputy Mary Le Hegarat explained that the pause was due to there not being enough space in UK prisons rather than a “collapse” in arrangements with HM Prison and Probation Service, as the report suggested.
She said: “As you can appreciate, UK prisons are full… Ordinarily, a prisoner would request being able to move back to the UK or somewhere else.
“That would be facilitated. Due to the fact that the prisons in the UK are full, that is why that has not happened,” she said.
“So it’s not from our perspective that it has collapsed. It’s just basically there’s been no facility.
“In the last couple of months, it is starting up again. Obviously, we’ve got a number of prisoners who would like to return back to the UK, to be closer to their families, etc, and jurisdictions as well.
“We will try and facilitate those as quickly as we can, because obviously that is a benefit to the prison, to the prisoners themselves and to their wider families, and obviously for them to be rehabilitated back into society, wherever that happens to be.”