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HMP Bedford, where prisoners rioted last week. Photograph: David Sillitoe/The
Observer
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HMP Bedford, where prisoners rioted last week. Photograph: David Sillitoe/The
Observer
The ObserverPrisons and probation

This article is more than 7 years old


SUICIDE, SELF-HARM, STABBINGS AND RIOTS – PRISONS REACH CRISIS POINT

This article is more than 7 years old

Anger boiling over as prisoners confined to cells 23 hours a day due to staff
shortages and 2016 sees highest number of prisoner suicides


Jamie Doward
Sat 12 Nov 2016 16.49 ESTLast modified on Fri 1 Dec 2017 22.52 EST
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A dozen of the country’s jails now have such chronic staff shortages they are
having to draft in officers from other prisons to help maintain order.

The staff shortage has forced some jails into locking prisoners in their cells
for extended periods, especially at weekends. Anger at the time they were
spending in their cells was cited as a major factor behind last weekend’s riot
at Bedford prison. The shortages are also a significant factor in the rise in
prison suicides, according to experts.



On Saturday it was confirmed that 99 people have taken their lives this year in
prisons in England and Wales. “This year has seen the highest number of
self-inflicted deaths in prison on record,” said Deborah Coles, director of
Inquest, the charity that monitors deaths in custody. “This unacceptable death
toll reflects the desperate reality of overcrowded, dehumanising and violent
prison conditions and the failure of prisons to protect those in their care.”



The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) said that the National Offender
Management Service, which oversees the country’s prisons, has classed 12 jails
as “red sites”, meaning they do not have enough staff to operate a standard
regime. A similar number are classed as “amber sites”, indicating they are also
suffering acute staffing issues. The POA told the Observer it estimated around
35% of the country’s prisons were experiencing some form of staffing problem.

HMP Isis in south-east London had to introduce a restricted emergency regime in
response to staff shortages three years ago. The prisons inspectorate called for
the temporary arrangement to be scrapped in 2014. But a report by the
inspectorate last month noted that it was still in place.

“Between 34% and 44% of prisoners were locked in their cells during the working
day and some prisoners had as little as one hour a day out of cell. The two
house blocks shared access to work and education facilities, meaning that at any
one time only up to half of the young prisoners were doing anything useful …
Another area of significant concern was the safety of prisoners.”

Concerns about safety in the country’s prisons are mounting. Last month
specialist officers had to be brought in after prisoners “went on the rampage”
at Lewes prison in Sussex, another red site. A “mini-riot” at HMP Exeter earlier
this month saw a member of staff held hostage. In August, disturbances were
reported at Birmingham jail. The following month an officer at Lincoln was
reportedly taken hostage and beaten after a riot broke out.



Pentonville in London, from which two prisoners escaped last week, has also been
plagued by problems. Last month, a prisoner died after being stabbed at the
jail. The POA told the Observer that since then there had been a further six
attacks – all carried out with weapons made from razor blades – on the same
wing.

As a prison doctor I’ve seen the crisis in jails – half the inmates shouldn’t be
there
Gordon Cameron
Read more

Dave Todd, national representative with the POA, said a common picture was
emerging. He said: “There aren’t any staff to give prisoners any meaningful
regimes, so when they get out [of their cells] they want to stay out. They may
get out for an hour per day at weekends but then they’re back in their cells.
You’ve got a lot of prisons that are classed as red sites – certain prisons that
have got real issues haven’t got enough staff in post to deliver [a] full
regime. A lot of the time they’re getting surplus staff from other jails, but
even that is not enough.”

Todd warned staff were becoming burned out. More prison officers are now leaving
the service than are being recruited as morale plummets. Figures just published
by the Ministry of Justice show that in the past year the number of full-time
prison officers has dropped by almost 600.

“Liz Truss [the justice secretary] has promised 2,500 new officers, but that’s
probably what they’ve taken out in the last three years – it’s made all prisons
unsafe,” Todd said. “In some prisons you are starting on £19,000 a year. No
offence to Tesco, but you’d probably get a better wage working in its stores
than some prisons.”

He described an increasingly violent culture within the country’s jails. “Many
have gang issues. Prisoners end up in debt after using new psychoactive
substances such as spice. If they don’t pay for it, the dealers will take
retribution and usually that’s in physical harm. We’ve got drones dropping drugs
off. We’ve got old Victorian prisons where you can get access to the prison wall
from a public footpath and throw things over.”

But the source of all the problems was fundamentally a lack of staff, he
suggested. “We haven’t got enough to effect a decent searching strategy. We used
to search a cell once every month, but we don’t do that any more. It’s all
intelligence-led now. It’s reaction rather than proaction. If you look up and
down the country, where there’s a lack of staff then there’s a lack of regime
and then there is violence and self-harm.”

Official figures show that there are 65 assaults a day in the country’s jails
and an average of two suicides a week.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said:
“Prisons across the country are struggling to deal with a toxic mix of problems
– a growing population, chronic overcrowding and deep cuts to staffing. Without
enough staff to keep people safe, prisons are increasingly providing restricted
regimes, under which prisoners are locked in their cells for up to 23 hours a
day.

Liz Truss’s £9-per-hour prison officers won’t produce safe, humane prisons
John Podmore
Read more

“Lockdowns mean that men who could be in education or training, learning skills
to help them lead crime-free lives on release, are spending their sentences
lying on their bunks. Worse, the restrictions can spark violence, self-injury
and disturbances, such as the riot in Bedford prison.”

The Prison Service said: “We have announced a major shake-up of the prison
system, with 2,500 extra prison officers and new security measures to tackle
drones, phones and drugs and help make prisons places of safety and reform. The
justice secretary has always been clear that it will take time to address these
longstanding problems and we must grip the real challenges and risks that we
face in the shorter term.”

John Attard, national officer with the Prison Governors’ Association, said the
closure of 13 prisons under the current government had exacerbated overcrowding
pressures. “For the last two years, the PGA have been saying that references to
drones, phones and spice were to some degree a convenient excuse that drew
attention away from the issues of staffing. The bottom line is many prisons have
not got enough officers.”

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