Prison crisis deepens as inmates locked up for 23 hours a day amid staff shortages
Justice Minister’s ‘temporary’ prison cell surge sparks alarm
Justice Minister Damian Hinds revealed this week in Parliament that 400 police cells will be used to hold prisoners temporarily. This comes after an “acute and sudden” spike in the prison population sent the system into crisis.
But experts warn that using police cells is just the tip of the iceberg. Charlie Taylor, prisons expert, told Times Radio that several jails like Sheppey and Woodhill are struggling to keep staff on board. The fallout from Covid lockdowns still haunts the system.
Prisons stuck in Covid-era lockdowns, staff shortages haunt recovery
“The prison system is taking an inordinately long time to recover from Covid, where prisons were almost entirely locked down for long periods of time, but since then, very few prisons have returned to the regime they had prior to the pandemic,” said Taylor.
Many prisons hesitate to resume normal routines. New, inexperienced staff struggle to manage more complex regimes. Taylor flagged one prison in Hampshire where prisoners spend 23 to 23.25 hours locked inside cramped cells just 12ft by 6ft.
“This is a Victorian local prison, the conditions are not good, cells are designed for one person but most have two prisoners in them,” Taylor added.
Rehabilitation suffer as prisoners rot behind locked doors
Taylor warned rehabilitation programs and education classes haven’t bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. This raises the risk of reoffending, especially in category C prisons.
“You cannot rehabilitate someone if they are banged up behind their cell door for 22 and 23 hours a day,” he said. “Prisoners are bored and sitting on their wings, believing they are making no progress toward the end of their sentence.”
Without proper rehab and training, Mr Taylor said offenders are more likely to relapse when released. This spells danger for both prisoners and the public alike.
Ex-top prosecutor calls for rehab overhaul to break crime cycle
Lord Ken Macdonald, former director of public prosecutions, dismissed Justice Minister Hinds’ claim that the recent barristers’ strike caused the rise in prisoner numbers. He said the remand backlog was growing long before the strike.
“Rather than staying on this treadmill of offence-prison, reoffence-prison, we need to find a solution that brings a greater number of people out of the system who are likely to reoffend,” Lord Macdonald said.
He slammed the practice of locking prisoners up for 23 hours every day.
“If you simply lock people up for 23 hours a day, month after month, year after year, they will not be fit for anything constructive when they are released. Finally, that is unfair to the public, whose tax dollars pay for all of this in the first place.”
