Too many prisons continue to be plagued by drugs (particularly new psychoactive substances), violence, appalling living conditions and a lack of access to meaningful rehabilitative activity, said HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) Chief Inspector Peter Clarke in his annual report.
In 2018–19 Mr Clarke used the Urgent Notification protocol – requiring the Secretary of State for Justice publicly to respond with action to improve a jail with significant problems – three times; over HMPs Exeter, Bedford and Birmingham.
As in previous years, men’s local and training prisons – with their high throughput of prisoners, often worn-out fabric, vulnerable populations and levels of violence and illicit drugs use – caused most concern. The report also discloses significant prisoner vulnerability. Across the service, levels of self‑harm were disturbingly high and self-inflicted deaths tragically increased by nearly one-fifth on the previous year.
Inspectors found ‘violence linked to other issues, such as drugs and associated debt, the frustration caused by restricted regimes, mental health issues, poor living conditions and a lack of staff supervision’. Some prisons were unable to cope with the high number of charges, typically for anti-social behaviour and illicit drug use, and some adjudications were dismissed due to procedural errors, which meant that offences, including serious acts of violence, went unpunished. These issues undermined staff authority and confidence in the system, according to the report.
Mr Clarke said the prison service response to the “deluge of drugs flowing into many prisons in recent years,” generating debt, bullying and violence, had often been slow and neither robust nor sophisticated. “The introduction of new technology that is necessary to help counter the threat has been patchy.” Technology, such as body scanners and devices to test incoming mail for illicit substances, did offer more tools, according to the report.
In too many establishments, drug-fuelled violence remained a daily reality, the report said. “Despite the continued increase in violence, many prisons had poorly defined violence reduction strategies and failed to address the causes of violence effectively. There was limited analysis of data to provide learning from previous incidents, and ineffective meetings that failed to progress action plans.
For a copy, visit the HMI website.
Comment
For Labour, Richard Burgon, Shadow Justice Secretary, said: “The Chief Inspector’s Annual Report presents an extremely depressing picture of the state of our prisons, one that has become the norm as reckless Tory cuts to staffing and budgets have taken hold. While the Chief Inspector praises the extraordinary dedication of prison staff, this report makes clear the role of Tory austerity in unleashing this crisis. With violence spiralling out of control and prisons failing to do their basic job of rehabilitation, it’s way past time for the government to set out an emergency plan and funding to make our prisons safe.”
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) meanwhile is running a study of prison staff exposure to risk to NPS (new psychoactive substances), including taking samples of waste water, head hair samples from staff and air samples from cells and houseblocks/wings.
