PR 270: DAMNING NEW REPORT MUST BE TREATED AS AN ‘EMERGENCY ALARM’ SAY PRISON OFFICERS

A new report has highlighted rising attacks on staff inside a Prison estate which is unsafe for use and bursting at the seams.

A report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the Prison Estate Capacity published today, lays bare the dire state of our Prison system which must be treated as an emergency alarm call for urgent Government action. 

The damning judgement of the PAC’s findings reflect what our members have been warning about for years: Prisons are dangerously overcrowded, understaffed, and increasingly unsafe for both staff and prisoners.

The report confirms that the Prison estate is operating at near total capacity, with occupancy rates reaching an unmanageable 99.7%.

The POA has previously warned that failure to invest adequately in infrastructure and staffing has led to a system that is at breaking point, making the UK Prison system one of the most hostile working environments in the world. The PAC report not only reaffirms much of this, but also underlines the devastating impact these issues are having on any chance of Prison staff to provide successful rehabilition services.

The POA is particularly alarmed by the report’s findings that:

• Over a quarter of prisoners are housed in cells designed for one, often with unsanitary and degrading conditions.
• Fire safety issues remain unaddressed, with 23,000 unsafe cells still in use.
• Funding falls drastically short, with only £520m allocated for maintenance over the next two years—far from the £2.8bn needed to bring Prisons up to a fair condition.

Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association said:

“This report must be treated as an emergency alarm being rung throughout our entire Prison Service and the Government must act urgently as a result.

For years Prison Officers and the POA have been calling for resources and intervention to address overcrowding and understaffing in our Prisons.  We’ve called out the dangerous and unsafe nature of the Prison estate and we have highlighted the relentless use of drones bringing in drugs and other contraband. And yet Governments have continued to ignore those warnings, rather than invest in the staff that are needed to ensure our justice system is fit for purpose.”

Mark Fairhurst National Chair of the POA added: 

“This report from the PAC must not be another one that sits on the shelf and delivers nothing. Our members are stressed, exhausted and subject to  increasing numbers of assaults and all the while they are working in overcrowded Prisons whilst dealing with more and more issues of complex mental health, drugs misuse and self-harm episodes amongst the prisoner groups.

We need urgent action to address the overcrowding crisis starting with more staff, an improved estate and a recognition that our Prison Officers are not superhuman and able to work under such conditions until they are almost 70.”

ENDS

 

 

For further information, contact:

POA Press Office                                                020 8803 0255 Option 7