Prison violence figures ‘looking reasonably positive’, Justice Minister

By Elizabeth Arnold23rd April 2019News EnglandCustodial Care, News England, Prisons / Offenders, Violence, Youth Offending

A Government minister who vowed to resign if the levels of violence in 10 key prisons did not decline has revealed that “at the moment the figures are looking reasonably positive”.

Speaking in the Commons, Justice Minister Rory Stewart told MPs that in the “majority of these prisons it looks as though violence is coming down, so you may be in the unfortunate position of still having me at this despatch box in a few months’ time”.

Mr Stewart (pictured) added that “we now have the highest number of prison officers at any date since 2012”.

His comments during justice questions came as Tory MP Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) requested an update on his vow, joking that “I for one think we have seen too many members of the Government resign”.

She said: “The prison minister vowed that if prison violence did not decrease then he would resign. I for one think we have seen too many members of the Government resign. Could he give us an update on his own ambitions to stay in post?”

Mr Stewart replied: “So as some people in the House will be aware, I promised to reduce violence in 10 key challenge prisons over a 12-month period. At the moment the figures are looking reasonably positive, in other words in the majority of these prisons it looks as though violence is coming down, so you may be in the unfortunate position of still having me at this despatch box in a few months’ time.”

He added: “I’m sure the whole House will join with me in expressing our deep horror at the recent attack against a prison officer in Nottingham Prison. It is completely horrifying to see this happen, it must not happen again.

“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our prison officers for the work they do in very difficult circumstances, keeping us safe. There are three main things we can do to stop this kind of thing happening again.

“We need to improve perimeter security, which means really searching people for weapons and drugs at the gate, we need to make sure the conditions in the prison are decent and work and above all we need to provide the training and the support for the prison officers to have the right kind of relationships with prisoners where things like this do not occur again.”

He went on: “There’s more that we can do too and that includes body-worn cameras, that’s the rolling out of PAVA spray and there’s making sure that we have enough officers on the landings which is why I’m pleased that we now have the highest number of prison officers at any date since 2012.”