Prisoner-on-prisoner drug searches in prisons in England and Wales: ‘Business as usual’

Abstract

Prisoner reported drug and contraband searches in adult men’s prisons in England and Wales represented almost a quarter of reported and recorded ‘sexual assaults’ from 2004 to 2014. These searches are more likely to involve multiple perpetrators and weapon use than other types of sexual assaults and are most frequently carried out in the relative privacy of a cell. The research presented here is based on an analysis of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service) Incident Recording System data, providing insights into the proportion of recorded sexual assaults which are related to drug searches. This analysis enables a distinction to be made between prisoner-on-prisoner drug and contraband searches and other sexual assaults. Analysis shows that prisoner-on-prisoner searches are frequent, often pre-meditated, brutal and appear to be an accepted aspect of everyday prison life.