Inspector warns prisons have become ‘unacceptably violent and dangerous’

By The Press Association19th July 2016News EnglandCourts / Justice, Custodial Care, News England, Offenders, Prisons / Offenders, Youth Offending

Too many prisons have become “unacceptably violent and dangerous places”, a watchdog has warned.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke said the “grim situation” his predecessor described around a year ago has not improved, and in some key areas it has “become even worse”.

In his first annual report since he took up to role in February, Mr Clarke said: “Despite the sterling efforts of many who work in the Prison Service at all levels, there is a simple and unpalatable truth about far too many of our prisons.

“They have become unacceptably violent and dangerous places.”

He cited statistics that lay bare an upsurge in violence behind bars.

Official figures show that during 2015 there were more than 20,000 assaults in prisons, a 27% rise on the previous year. Serious assaults jumped even more sharply by 31%, to nearly 3,000.

There were six apparent homicides between April 2015 and March 2016 – compared to four in the previous year.

Incidents of self-harm rose by a quarter in 2015 to more than 32,000, while the total of 100 self-inflicted deaths between April 2015 and March 2016 marked a 27% increase.

“For year-on-year increases, these are huge figures,” Mr Clarke said.

A large part of the violence is linked to harm caused by new psychoactive substances (NPS) – previously known as legal highs – which are having a “dramatic and destabilising effect”, his report said.

Mr Clarke disclosed that during visits to prisons he had met inmates who have “self-segregated” in order to escape violence caused by the drugs.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has identified 39 deaths in prisons between June 2013 and June 2015 that can be linked to the use of NPS.

Mr Clarke said the situation has shown no signs of improvement since June 2015, “in fact quite the reverse, and tragically the death toll will inevitably rise”.

Various aspects of the issue are being addressed, including through criminalisation of the products and better use of testing and detection technologies, the report acknowledged.

But it added that “the simple fact remains that there is, as yet, no overall national strategy for dealing with the problem”.

Mr Clarke (pictured) issued a warning about the possible impact on the Government’s prisons reform programme.

He said an ambition to increase the role of education and training in rehabilitation and eventual resettlement of offenders was “entirely laudable”.

However, he added: “All I would say is that the situation we have in too many of our prisons at the moment is that the lack of safety and the inability to actually get the prisoners to education and training poses a real risk to the Government’s ambition in terms of enhancing the role of education.

“Prisons need to be made safer if the reform ambitions are to be achieved.”

He also criticised the efforts of some prisons to implement the watchdog’s recommendations.

Following an inspection, a facility is expected to complete an action plan in response.

Mr Clarke said: “‘Action plan’ is, in too many cases, a misnomer.

“I have seen poorly performing prisons where their implementation of previous inspection recommendations has been woeful. It is therefore hardly surprising that they have either failed to improve or actually deteriorated.”

He called for individual establishments and government departments to be placed under an obligation either to accept recommendations or set out clearly why one will not or cannot be implemented.

Mr Clarke said he had been struck by the sheer number of people in various forms of detention who are contending with mental health issues. Often those who cannot be accommodated on a wing find themselves housed in a segregation unit, the report said.

It added: “These three issues of violence, drugs and mental health will, on many occasions, find themselves intertwined. They are, in turn, compounded by the perennial problems of overcrowding, poor physical environments in ageing prisons, and inadequate staffing,”

Justice Secretary Liz Truss said the report “shows why prison reform is so important”.

She said: “We need to create safe, secure and purposeful regimes that help rehabilitate offenders so there are fewer victims in the future.

“This is a key part of the Government’s commitment to delivering social justice for all.”

“I want to see radical reform and I am under no illusions about the scale of the challenge we face or how long reform takes.

“We have an ambitious agenda to modernise the prison estate, improve education and empower governors, so that we can tackle issues like drugs and violence which are key to cutting reoffending and keeping staff and prisoners safe. The report also shows the challenges that our brave and dedicated staff face every day.”

Ms Truss, who replaced Michael Gove last week, added: “I will set out the next steps for this agenda in coming weeks but I am clear that the vital work of prison reform will continue at pace.”