THE GOVERNMENT CREATED THIS CRISIS AND ONLY THE GOVERNMENT CAN PUT IT RIGHT.

It is important that we learn from history and ensure that now the pandemic is over, we do all we can to make our prisons safe again

On Tuesday 7th February, I was called as a witness to the Justice Select Committee that had begun an inquiry into the Prison Service Operational Workforce crisis now engulfing our prisons. It specifically focused on recruitment and retention among Band 2 OSGs and Band 3 Prison Officer grades.

Way back in 2010, when the coalition Government entered power, our workforce was subject to austerity measures including reduced budgets and job cuts. This meant that, rather rapidly between 2010 and 2013, the frontline in our prisons lost, because of a Voluntary Early Departure Scheme, in excess of 7,000 frontline prison officers. In 2012, new terms and conditions, including new pay scales where introduced. These, along with a ‘benchmarking’ process that analysed every aspect of prison life, beginning with a ‘zero-based approach’ for every area of our work, then adding staff as the tasks became riskier, led to unsafe staffing levels and increased frustrations for prisoners. The loss of experience, the reduced staffing on landings, the insistence from Governors that we can and must find ‘new ways to work’, led to record levels of violence both prisoner on prisoner and on staff.

ALL THIS WAS DONE IN THE NAME OF AUSTERITY AND ‘EFFICIENCY’

It is important that we learn from history and ensure that, now the pandemic is over, we do all we can to make our prisons safe again, ensuring staff are confident and in control and that prisoners have an opportunity to better themselves, so they have a chance to lead law-abiding lives upon release by using skills they have learned while in custody.

Without sufficient staff to provide such regimes, the ‘human warehouse’ effect would simply continue and we would have progressed not one iota. So, I gave my evidence and informed the inquiry how we needed to improve and what needed to change. As a union, we want safe, predictable, productive regimes that allow prisoners to address their offending behaviour, learn skills that can gain them employment upon release and give people hope. We have never – and will never – advocate ‘bang up’ regimes but, unfortunately, because of the staffing crisis we face, that is inevitable in some prisons.

I faced many questions from the politicians on the team and I was more than happy to give them a true reflection of the reality of life inside our dilapidated and under-resourced prisons.

I informed the inquiry that since 2010 we have lost more than 100,000 years of experience because of staff leaving. To date, we have 2,200 fewer officers and 2,500 fewer OSGs than we did in 2010. More and more experienced staff are leaving because of a poor and uncompetitive pay structure compared with other public sector bodies including the police, fire service, NHS and Border Force, while private industries, such as the railways and retail, both offer pay and working conditions that are competitive and significantly safer than a prison.

There are many factors why staff quit the service. They leave because new recruits’ training is not fit for purpose and does not prepare them for life on the landings. I do not know of any other uniformed frontline public sector body that fully trains new staff and allows them to ‘go live’ after just six weeks training with no support to nurture their skills. They leave because the pay is poor and they need to work excessive hours in overtime to make ends meet. They leave because the working conditions are austere, violent and hostile. They leave because of lack of support and bullying from senior grades. Most staff leave within the first two years of service, which leads to a revolving door of new faces, which in turn leads to instability and frustrations. The entire service needs to look at itself and change. Recruiting people to such an important role without a face-to-face interview but using an online assessment is clearly not working. We need to look at a minimum age for recruits and pay that attracts those people with ‘life’ experience who are looking for an alternative career to the one they currently have.

THE SELECT COMMITTEE WAS UNAWARE OF THE FAILINGS I HAD HIGHLIGHTED

I commented on the inadequate career structure that allowed staff completing their probation period after 12 months, the opportunity to gain promotion, without any management training in place whatsoever. The only way they can get a pay rise is to get promotion, but operational experience counts for everything if you are going to manage staff or an incident. I feel we are setting people up to fail and that’s not fair on anyone.

I failed to see how the government’s target of recruiting an additional 5,000 staff to satisfy 20,000 new prison spaces would ever be achieved when HMPPS statistics tell us that for every four new recruits we keep just one. In 2022, we had 3,900 recruits but 3,600 leavers. The private sector prisons will experience similar difficulties in recruitment because of a buoyant labour market, safer working conditions and more substantial pay in other industries.

IT’S TIME FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO INVEST IN PRISON STAFF

I was pressed on the thematic review into the experiences of BAME prisoners and staff. It was painful reading for me, as I am proud of what I do and work tirelessly to eradicate all forms of prejudice from the service and the union. I explained that, in my opinion, HMPPS did not do enough, was not robust enough when tackling bigotry and racism, and needed to engage with community leaders in minority areas to break down barriers and encourage the recruitment of underrepresented groups.

Staff safety is a major reason why staff leave. Many do not have the protections they need, such as those who work with the most violent cohort within the entire prison estate – the Youth Custody Service that cares for prisoners under the age of 18. Although a contentious issue, staff need to be issued with PAVA incapacitant spray so they can quell violence and protect the young people in our care. I have been informed about some horrendous incidents in the juvenile estate of late, which include serious assaults on staff that have left them with life-changing injuries, and concerted incidents involving mass attacks prisoner on prisoner. I am positive that any mother would advocate me spraying a gang of violent assailants with pepper spray if they were stamping on the head of their son; after all, it makes your eyes sting and water, nothing more.

Without question, we need this protection for staff and prisoners. Affording staff zero protection apart from a polo shirt is not an option.

The POA wants safe, decent prisons that give prisoners hope. We want confident, competent and sufficient staff who are allowed to do their job and we want prisoners being released into our communities that feel they have been treated fairly and given the opportunity to address the reasons they were incarcerated.

We can only unlock prisoners if we have sufficient staff on duty and we will only have sufficient staff on duty if we can retain them. Unlocking full wings is not the safest option. During the pandemic, prisoners fed back that they felt safer in smaller cohorts and the increased staff-to-prisoner ratios. We advocate this approach because it creates more positive staff/prisoner relationships, prisoners feel safer and more confident in the staff, and we can be more productive. While I understand that prisoners will have to spend more time locked up, if we invest in technology and modern cells, this should not be too much of an issue. We will never see staffing levels like the 90s again, so we have to ensure safety is paramount. To facilitate this, we need split prison regimes including fewer prisoners unlocked at any one time.

WE HAVE TO GET OUR PRISONS SAFE

Of course, it would assist if every prison had an activity space for every prisoner, offering viable work that enhanced employment opportunities. All too often workshops have zero work and education blocks are empty. Part- time working adds to the frustrations we face. Ensuring everybody is active full time will take a major investment, but it needs to happen.

Currently, we have a complete meltdown, which has been caused by successive governments and can only be rectified by successive governments. They need to fund decent pay rises, attract more recruits, invest in a modern and humane infrastructure within our prisons and, most certainly, reduce the retirement age of prison officers to 60. Imagine joining as an 18 year old and having to work until 68 to access a full pension. Nobody would want a firefighter or police constable to work on the frontline for 50 years, and we are no different. Would you want your grandparents working in our prisons dealing with the daily occurrences?

My hope is that what evidence I gave will be acted upon and we can all work or live in a prison that promotes positivity, hope, rehabilitation and safety. Only time will tell.