To ask the Minister of Justice to outline her plans to reintroduce a drug-free wing in Magilligan Prison.

Mrs Long

Many people come into our prisons with long-established addictions from years of drug use in the community. That results in the Prison Service, along with its partners in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, investing heavily in supporting, and, indeed, in challenging, those people to address their addictions, which, all too often, are central to their offending behaviour. As part of that approach, Magilligan operates two units in the prison whose entry criteria require an individual to be drug-free or to be engaging in programmes that support recovery from addiction. Those supportive environments help reduce demand while promoting the individual's self-esteem, family contact, release planning and throughcare with key partners in the community. The individual units provide 88 beds, and, against a backdrop of a significantly increasing prison population, there are no plans to expand provision in Magilligan at this time.

Madam Principal Deputy Speaker

Claire, you have time for a quick supplementary question.

Mrs Long

It is clear, if you look at the interim review report, that, although a lot of progress has been made — indeed, a new drugs response strategy has been implemented and embedded in Magilligan — there is still much work to do.

Madam Principal Deputy Speaker

That ends the period for listed questions. We now move on to 15 minutes of topical questions.