Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to prevent family and legal visits being cancelled in prisons in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Selous

Maintaining family ties, including through visits, plays a vital role in helping prisoners turn away from crime.

All convicted prisoners are entitled to a minimum of two visits every 28 days and this has not changed since 1992. Extra visits can also be granted.

The Public Sector Prisons benchmark provides prisons with a core day and staffing resource to deliver all required activities and services. Part of the benchmark provision is the delivery of social and legal visits and there is an expectation that these are critical activities which will not be cancelled.