Prisons in crisis because of ‘absolutely crazy’ reforms, says former boss
Jails are facing their gravest crisis in a generation because of “absolutely crazy” job cuts and mismanagement by ministers for more than two decades, a former Chief Inspector of Prisons has warned. Lord Ramsbotham delivered a devastating critique of a system struggling with overcrowding, violence and drugs and called for drastic action to cut numbers behind bars. He spoke out in an interview with i ahead of the expected publication this month of Government plans to overhaul the running of English and Welsh prisons. The crossbench peer, who was Chief Inspector for six years, said the system had endured continual chaos in the 26 years since a landmark report by Lord Woolf into prison conditions.
Deliberate actions
“It’s in crisis, but I think that it’s an avoidable crisis because it has been made a great deal worse by the deliberate actions of ministers and their officials.” He reserved his fiercest criticism for Chris Grayling’s tenure as Justice Secretary between 2012 and 2015 when spending on prisons was heavily cut.
“Chris Grayling’s dreadful so-called reforms have been nothing short of a disaster,” said Lord Ramsbotham, who has been a prison reform campaigner since stepping down in 2001 as chief inspector. “He reduced the prison staff by a third – that was absolutely crazy. The numbers are now a ratio of one officer to six prisoners.” That compared with a ratio of one to three in 1980 and one to just over two in 1990, he said.
Fragile situation
His comments follow an inspection report last week which found the situation at Exeter jail was “fragile”, with only 29 officers on duty for 490 prisoners. He said: “The people who I blame as much as Chris Grayling for implementing this are the officials who should have stood up and been counted over that. “They knew perfectly well that staff numbers were in a drastic situation – they should have said so.”
Lord Ramsbotham was dismissive of last year’s announcement by Liz Truss, the current Justice Secretary, of plans to recruit an extra 2,500 prison staff. “The trouble is if you recruit 2,500 they are going to take some time to get trained. But [ministers] deliberately got rid of people who knew what they were doing, they were experienced,” he said.
Ghastly suicide rates
Staff shortages are at the root of problems besetting jails that have led to “ghastly suicide rates” and increasing levels of violence faced by officers and inmates alike, he said. The situation was now more serious than it has been since Lord Woolf’s 1991 report following riots at Strangeways prison in Manchester.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We are committed to making our prisons places of safety and reform. “Since taking up her role, the Justice Secretary has taken urgent action to stabilise the estate by tackling the drugs, drones and phones that undermine security. We are also investing £100m annually to boost the frontline by 2,500 officers. “These issues will not be resolved in weeks or months but our wholescale reforms will lay the groundwork to transform our prisons, reduce reoffending and make our communities safer.”
Inmate numbers should be slashed
Lord Ramsbotham called for the prison system to undergo a radical restructuring, including slashing numbers in custody from more than 85,000 to around 50,000. The former Army general suggested the cut could be achieved if courts handed out more community sentences to minor offenders. Inmates with mental health problems should be diverted into specialist treatment and foreign prisoners immediately deported at the end of their sentences. He said overcrowding is now so bad that programmes, including mental health and drug treatment, “can’t be delivered”.
Lord Ramsbotham is a very credible voice for prisons and probation. How things would have been different if somebody of his overstanding had been in place of Grayling and Truss.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Commons Speaker John Bercow (my current hero for opposing Trump) would like to voice his opposition against Grayling, Truss and the state of prisons too!
ReplyDeleteI have the highest respect for Lord Ramsbotham, and I respect his wisdom. When I was writing to government ministers suggesting ways of quickly reducing prison violence (improved diet is one way) and quickly reducing the prison population. he advised me that the government were not listening and unfortunately he was very right, so we must hear more that drones, phones and drugs are the problem, whilst other countries have drugs, phones and drugs and don't have our problem. Obviously our politicians believe we have the intellect of a Donald Trump Supporter and will swallow any sound bite.
ReplyDeleteBig claim Liz. Big claim.
ReplyDeletehttp://m.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/mistakes-which-left-man-free-to-kill-in-devon-have-been-fixed-says-minister/story-30116932-detail/story.html
With all respect to Lord Ramsbotham, it is very frustrating that when he spoke about Grayling's reforms being nothing short of a disaster, he did not appear to refer to Probation as well as prison. Its significance re assessment of risk, then sentence, followed by supervision in community, or supervision in custody and then supervision post custody, is (or was) intertwined with prison staff. Has anyone in power ever considered that the increase in prison problems might just also be linked with the loss of ongoing quality support(which often included family contact)from the Probation Service, from appearance in court to release etc.
ReplyDeleteA yes "Family and Friends", the most effective and cheapest rehabilitation factor. I am sure years ago I read court reports in the papers were in Mitigation Mr X stated that Y had good family support, don't seem to read that now, like it doesn't count anymore.
DeleteCouldn't probation do an assessment of family support and integrate it into a sentence plan?
Lord Ramsbotham is a good friend of the probation profession. He was happy to attend and spoke eloquently and knowlegeably at Napo Branch meetings in London showing the utmost respect for probation staff at the sharp end (the troops on the frontline). As a crossbencher was active and influential in criticising and expressing concerns about the insanity of TR for very sensible reasons. As a former General he is someone who is aware of the importance of managing things properly and acute appreciation of risk. He accurately predicted how things would pan out and as a good judge of character and ability he had precisely zero faith in Graylings competence and abilities.
ReplyDeletethanks for that 18 38. I was aware that Lord R has also supported probation, but it is reassuring to see it reinforced by yourself. But I could scream when I read about reasons for increased violence and self harm in prison, which indeed are all valid, but no one ever seems to also broach the subject of the frustration, depression, isolation, fear, family worries and loss of hope, which many inmates must feel, worsened when they don't have the opportunity to talk and be supported to help cope with personal issues, which was common when they had regular contact with their officer.
DeleteThis is why David Raho is a fantastic chair. He has a little black book Fletcher would give his right hand for. I know for a fact he had Lord Ramsbotham on speed dial as well as many other influential prominent figures.
ReplyDeleteI learnt today that my office cannot send letters out. CRC have just about packed and gone, and it turns out that theirs is the franking machine. The solution, whilst this glitch is addressed, is for the PO to email a CA with the letter for sending, which she then emails to a CA in a distant office, who then prints and posts it. What could possibly go wrong (apart from np evidence of posting court summonses, apart from a clear breach of data protection act, this latter being a sackable offence btw). What a farce, that nobody NOBODY has the confidence or authority to buy some stamps.
ReplyDeletestill me above. This is all so divisive and divided: I am genuinely ashamed that whilst the CRC staff crash and burn, I am getting fretty about postage arrangements, but this is where we are, all fighting our corners and trying to get it done, in the face of appalling incompetence and grim cynicism from the CRCs and strangling bureaucratic nonsense from NPS,
DeleteNone of this is true! FAKE NEWS, Very Bad!!
DeleteOtherwise Noms's Michael Spurr couldn't qualify for a substantial payrise & bonus, could he? And the Noms's staff responsible for the smooth & seamless implementation of TR couldn't have won awards, could they?
Backawhile in the heady says when we were opposing the privatisation of Probation, Lord Ramsbottham addressed a lobby meeting in HoP, and headlined his comments with a proposal that the MoJ adopted a new acronym (being so fond of these) PANTS, which stands for People Are Not Things. I thought it rather quaint at the time, but actually, prescient .
ReplyDeletePanorama Monday evening is an undercover investigation into the prison crisis. I'm sure Grayling will get a mention. Worth a watch anyway I think.
ReplyDelete'Getafix