UK: Prisons unfit for purpose
01 August 2006
A series of damning reports by HM Prisons Inspectorate has again exposed the squalid, brutal regimes in place in the UK's overcrowded prison system.
HMP Shrewsbury: Shrewsbury has the dubious reputation of being the most overcrowded prison in an overcrowded system. According to the report it is "ageing - in some cases crumbling". Despite a history of suicide and self-harm at the jail, suicide risk information was often not received from elsewhere in the criminal justice system. A further death occurred at the jail just after the inspection took place. Conditions for both prisoners and staff were overcrowded and unsatisfactory. Many cells were unfit for purpose, walls were often damp and water pressure could not cope with demand for showers. To the credit of staff, the jail remains safe and well-managed, but, as the Inspectorate puts it: "it is unacceptable that prisoners and staff are compelled to live and work in accommodation that, in parts, ought to be condemned, and the barely adequate regime is simply not sufficient for a 21st century prison."
Report of Full Announced Inspection of HMP Shrewsbury 22.11.06
HMP Leicester: Leicester is a small, old, inner-city prison. At time of inspection it was operating under acute overcrowding pressures. The prison had experienced nine deaths in custody in the 28 months preceding inspection. On inspection, the assessment and care in custody procedures for managing and supporting those at risk of self-harm was not effectively managed. Healthcare had deteriorated since the last inspection and lacked clinical governance and supervision. Standards in education had fallen. Over half the prisoners had no activity at all. There was no effective personal officer scheme. "Leicester shows, in microcosm, some of the problems faced by an overcrowded and stretched prison system."
Report of an Unannounced Follow-up Inspection at HMP Leicester 29.11.06
HMP High Down: The Inspectorate was greatly concerned by credible allegations of intimidation of prisoners by certain staff and of staff collusion with the abuse of vulnerable prisoners by other prisoners. The Inspectors' concern was compounded by the inadequacy of investigations into prisoners complaints of abuse by staff. There had been a history of excessive use of force by staff and over-use of special cells.
Report of Inspection of HMP High Down 31.10.06
HMP Pentonville: The Inspection found that Pentonville was a prison "that lacked the systems to ensure fundamental aspects of safety and decency." Prisoners were routinely locked in their cells for most of the day. Prisoners reported much poorer relationships with staff than at the last inspection, and there was a high number of allegations of assault and victimisation. More prisoners than previously said they felt unsafe on their first night. Many internal areas of the prison were dirty and vermin-infested, and too many prisoners lacked basic requirements such as pillows and toothbrushes. Prisoner requests through the formal application system were often ignored. Forty percent of prisoners said they had been insulted or assaulted by staff. Use of force was high, and recording of how and why it was used was insufficiently precise. Prisoners were locked up for around 22 hours a day. Overcrowding, old buildings and inadequate facilities severely inhibited the prison's ability to deliver a safe, decent and purposeful environment for prisoners.
Report of Unannounced Follow-up Inspection of HMP Pentonville 28.9.06
Meanwhile, Peter Quinn, author of an internal Prison Service report on staff violence at HMP Wormwood Scrubs between 1992 and 2001, has made public his findings that 160 officers at the jail were involved in inflicting and covering up a regime of torture, beatings, death threats and sexual assaults on inmates. Mr Quinn, a prison governor with 30 years service, estimated the regime of systematic violence at the S