Belmarsh Prison: - the prisoners' report

Family Visits

Prisoners in the SSUs are also subjected to closed family visits. There is serious concern about the likely psychological effects of the closed visit regime on children and the negative effect such visits have on general familial bonds. The prison service maintains that closed visits are a security necessity, but when one looks at the sequence of procedures before and after an open visit it is clear that security reasoning is a fudge.

• Before an open visit a prisoner is body frisked.
• He then goes through a metal detecting portal.
• Next he has a metal detecting wand passed over the entire body.
• Next he undergoes a full strip search, and finally changes into a complete set of sterile clothing (clothing and shoes a prisoner had no contact with prior to the visit).
• On the visit itself a member of the prison staff sits beside the prisoner. When the visit is over the same search procedures are carried out in reverse.

It has been admitted privately by prison staff that there is no possibility of giving or taking any illicit items from an open visit under present security procedures. This fact begs the question that if there is no security problem for open visits then why are closed visits enforced upon us.

• Introduction
• Legal Visits
• Squat Searches
• Conclusion