From wikipedia:- 'Cloud cuckoo land is a state of absurdly, over-optimistic fantasy or an unrealistically idealistic state where everything is perfect. Someone who is said to "live in cloud cuckoo land" is a person who thinks that things that are completely impossible might happen, rather than understanding how things really are. It also hints that the person referred to is naive, unaware of realities or deranged in holding such an optimistic belief.'
Because prisons are naturally fairly secretive places, the MoJ's standard policy is to try and ignore problems for as long as possible in the vain hope they go away. In a world of post truth and fake news it's also become standard practice to deny the obvious, even when it becomes crystal clear to everyone else and the saga at HMP Birmingham fits the mould perfectly.
We all know about Chris Graylings disastrous policy decisions when he was in control at the MoJ and in particular his keeness to sign up to austerity cost savings that included massive staff cuts. 'Fair and Sustainable' has proved to have been preparing perfect foundations for the current prison crisis and the decision to force privatisation of HMP Birmingham led quickly to the riot in 2016.
The damning report of the local Independent Monitoring Board was ignored and the MoJ 'controller' was either asleep at the wheel or their pressing the alarm bell at MoJ HQ was simply ignored. In the end it took an unannounced visit by staff from HM Prison Inspectorate some 10 days ago, when their cars were trashed in the official car park, the subsequent 'worst report ever seen' and an urgent warning notice from Chief Inspector Peter Clarke, before ministers reluctantly agreed that 'something' had to be done.
But even then the policy is to try and defend the indefensible, namely that it's nothing to do with privatisation or G4S, the company involved, and pretend it can all be fixed with a new governor, 30 extra staff and 300 less prisoners. Lets pretend the emperor is fully clothed, things can be sorted in 6 months, G4S can still have a stab at running some probation contracts and Rory Stewart won't have to resign in 12 months. It's all cloud cuckoo land. Here's the story in the Guardian:-
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has been forced to take immediate control of HMP Birmingham from its contractor G4S, after a damning inspection found that prisoners used drink, drugs and violence with impunity and corridors were littered with cockroaches, blood and vomit. The government is having to take the unprecedented step of seizing control of the failing prison, removing its governor and sweeping out hundreds of prisoners on Monday, just hours before an extraordinarily critical report is released by the prisons inspectorate.
The state of the category B prison is likely to raise significant questions in the coming days about private sector involvement in the prison system. G4S was awarded a 15-year contract to run the prison in 2011. The chief inspector of prisons, Peter Clarke, said there had been “dramatic deterioration” since the last inspection in early 2017 and the government should launch an urgent inquiry into the appalling state of the prison, the most violent in England and Wales and the site of riots in 2016.
Prison gangs perpetrating the violence “could do so with near impunity”, he said. Inspectors saw prisoners who were evidently under the influence of drink or drugs, which went unchallenged, including widespread use of the psychoactive drug spice.Staff were fearful and experienced widespread bullying, the report said, and inspectors witnessed an arson attack on a supposedly secure staff car park during their inspection.
Prison officers often had little grasp of where prisoners were, the report found. Communal areas were filthy, with cockroaches, vermin, blood and vomit left uncleaned, and wings that had virtually every window damaged or missing. Clarke said the report contained “some of the most disturbing evidence that inspectors ... have seen in any prison.”
In his letter to the justice secretary, David Gauke, Clarke said there was an “urgent and pressing need to address the squalor, violence, prevalence of drugs and looming lack of control”. Clarke said he was “astounded that HMP Birmingham had been allowed to deteriorate so dramatically”.
He said he had no confidence in the ability of the prison to make improvements. “There has clearly been an abject failure of contract management and delivery … the inertia that seems to have gripped both those monitoring the contract and delivering it on the ground has led to one of Britain’s leading jails slipping into a state of crisis.” Clarke has invoked an “urgent notification protocol”, a device that puts the justice secretary on notice that urgent action is needed to address significant concerns at a jail.
The MoJ said it had instigated an intensive period of improvement measures with little success, forcing it to take the prison back under government control. HM Prison and Probation Service will run the prison for an initial six months, before assessing whether control can be returned to G4S. The “step in” process is not technically nationalisation, but a process allowed when a provider is deemed to have breached its contract to run the prison safely, meaning there is no liability to the taxpayer.
No staff redundancies will take place, though the MoJ said it would send in an additional 30 members of experienced prison staff as well as a new governor, Paul Newton, formally of HMP Swaleside. More than 300 prisoners will be moved from the prison while the jail is overhauled.
The prisons minister, Rory Stewart, said the conditions in the prison were clearly unacceptable. “It has become clear that drastic action is required to bring about the improvements we require,” he said. “This ‘step in’ means that we can provide additional resources to the prison while insulating the taxpayer from the inevitable cost this entails.
“We have good, privately run prisons across the country and while Birmingham faces its own particular set of challenges, I am absolutely clear that it must start to live up to the standards seen elsewhere.”
However, MoJ sources have been keen to stress the government does not believe privatisation was at the root of the prison’s troubles, pointing out that other G4S prisons including HMP Oakwood had recently received good inspection reports. Stewart has staked his own reputation on dramatic improvements to the prison system, telling the BBC he would resign in a year if he has not managed to reduce the level of drugs and violence in 10 target jails, although Birmingham was not among them.
The MoJ said it was clear that the prison was still suffering significant effects following the 2016 riots involving more than 600 prisoners, the worst since the infamous Strangeways riots in 1990. The government was forced to send in specially trained Tornado Squad officers, who battled prisoners for more than 12 hours.
A report by the independent monitoring board ahead of the riots had warned of the dangers posed by prisoners under the influence of psychoactive drugs including spice and black mamba. Assaults on staff at HMP Birmingham rose 84% to a record high of 164 incidents last year, according to MoJ figures.
The “step in” to take control in Birmingham is the first time such drastic measures have been used mid-contract. In 2016, the government stepped in at the end of its contract with G4S to run Medway Secure Training Centre, after undercover reporters filmed staff apparently mistreating children.
Mick Rolfe on Facebook:-
ReplyDeleteWhilst it is important to have private companies who innovate and offer wider employment, time and time again it has proved a catastrophic disaster employing large profit making multi nationals to run public sector contracts.
I welcome the news that HMP Birmingham will be returned to Public sector control as I know many others will, even if it is only for an initial period of 6 months. It is an admission that Privatisation has failed at this Prison, however this is not a failing of the capable and willing staff that work there but more the companies desire to prioritise profit over safety, profit over responsibility and profit over ensuring that tax payers have a Prison Service that they can be reassured by and proud of.
Even within this announcement the Government refuses to recognise their own failures by privatising the system and continues to operate with this failing ideology that Private sector companies are preferred to run public sector business.
This is only one Prison being returned to the public sector, and potentiality for a limited time, many more are already run by companies with similar outlooks to those of G4S with many new Prisons planned in the same guise. Time to bring them all back to public ownership along with the privatised Probation service!
Guardian reporting on today's publication of HMP Birmingham prison riot report:-
ReplyDeleteBirmingham prison riot 'should have been stopped sooner'
A 14-hour riot involving at least 500 prisoners at privately run Birmingham prison should have been prevented from escalating within 30 minutes, according to the findings of an official investigation the government previously attempted to suppress.
The mass disturbance broke out on four wings of HMP Birmingham, which was run by the contractor G4S, on the morning of 16 December 2016 after two men climbed on the netting in one of the wings, and along with four other inmates, were able to seize a set of keys.
Chronic staff shortages contributed in part to a breakdown in authority and increasing instability that led to the riot, an investigation led by a former prison service director found. The investigation was commissioned by the prison service.
There were several windows of opportunity in the early stages of the incident when order could have been re-established and the subsequent escalation of violence, which involved serious damage to the four wings, prevented.
The report into the investigation was released by the Ministry of Justice on Monday under freedom of information laws on the same day the department announced it was bringing HMP Birmingham back under government control from G4S. Ministers previously refused to publish even a redacted version of the report, citing security concerns.
In a damning summary, the report says: “We formed the view that staff had, over the preceding year and … the preceding few months, become worn down by the chronic staffing shortages at HMP Birmingham, caused by a combination of high levels of sickness, attrition and disorganised deployment.
“Over this time period, they had gradually relinquished authority to the prisoners who were in effect policing themselves much of the time.”
Winson Green was a failing prison when G4S took it off the public sector in 2011 and it's just got steadily worse. Not just private jails failing, Nottingham, Exter and Bedford (all run by HMPPS) placed in special measures over the past 12 months.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/31/prisons-inspector-takes-emergency-action-over-hmp-exeter
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/20/hmp-birmingham-rory-stewart-private-public-prisons
ReplyDeleteCloud cuckoo land is the permanent state of mind and position of the current government. Determined to reject and ignore the growing evidence that TR is just not working and putting the public and staff at risk. We need rallies and public demonstrations and to gain media attention now to exploit the current failings of TR.
ReplyDeleteNot involved in the CJS anymore ('severed'). Now sat here with a box of popcorn watching the fireworks and enjoying watching the MOJ squirm. We all saw it coming and said so. Graying knew best and his yes men backed him to the hilt.
ReplyDeleteRecently spent an unexpectedly & unbelievably privileged weekend as a guest of a global sports organisation at a major sports event. What a different world from anything I've ever known. But it was enlightening. My French is abysmal but I managed a fascinating conversation with one of the commissioners of the organisation's media services. She told me (in English) the procurement process "is simple":
ReplyDelete1. Here's the brief - these are the required terms
2. Can you deliver what's required?
3. Why should we use you?
4. If we choose you & you don't deliver, you'll be told to go there & then
5. Get it right & you keep the contract - unless/until you fuck it up
6. Do NOT Take The Piss
7. Looking forward to working with you.
Sadly the politicians, simple serpents & greedy bastards in this country just can't help themselves. They simply MUST line their own & their chums' pockets by lying, cheating & pretending they're successful as opposed to ensuring the contract works, ensuring the service is delivered & enjoying any benefits derived from satisfactorily completing what is required, i.e. actually being successful.
My new-found-friend also expressed her disbelief at what she regarded as "the UK government's commitment to utter incompetence, excessive drinking, xenophobia & eagerness for Brexit." How could I disagree?
Sadly it merely reinforces what I believe to be the sack of shit that is the current state of the UK.
It's not just the MoJ in cloud cuckoo land, the the whole government ideology that's gone wrong.
ReplyDeleteNorthampton CC is alliwed to go bankrupt, whilst PwC can get paid £20.4m for eight weeks work on Carillions administration.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/g4s-conservatives-private-birmingham-prison-brexit-jeremy-corbyn-labour-a8499461.html
'Getafix
MoJ's efforts to deny privatisation being a factor in the problems at HMP Birmingham are rather bogus in my opinion. The privateers 'seduced' failing Grayling with "look how cheaply we can run our prisons" which no doubt influenced the decision to privatise HMP Birmingham and the general race to the bottom in the rest of the HMPS.
ReplyDeleteTheir attempts to point out establishments like HMP Oakwood as examples of well run private prisons are hardly comparing like with like. Unless I am mistaken all the privately run prisons excepting Birmingham and Northumberland were purpose built by and for the privateers to be run on their minimal staffing operating models. Having spoken to Oakwood staff recently I understood they run with similar staffing levels to Birmingham. The difference as I see it is that Birmingham is a Victorian prison which cannot be run on the same principles as its modern counterparts.
My heart goes out to prisoners and probation clients, and to those charged with their care, incarceration and supervision. While all this shit plays out, we all have to keep on keeping on. Chatting to a retired prison officer today: he was just filled with sadness and indignation at the state we are in. So you are a Probation Officer? he asked, "A real one?" They take on pretend ones now, you know. Jeez.
ReplyDeleteAs an employee within a CRC all of this makes me feel physically sick as I have absolutely no hopes of any of this ( TR and the rest of the criminal justice systems ) being put right because apart from us guys on here and the odd published " ooh privatisation of Prison's " is so wrong , no one ( in the places that can effect positive change , however saying that I'm really not sure who they are anymore) seems to give a rat's arse about what's actually taking place behind closed doors right now which will yet again potentially effect lots of negative change for staff , service users ( those in and out of custody ) as we experienced first time round which had been published by the JSC and others for what it's worth - I'm an avid reader of this blog in the hopes that one day I will read something positive that all is well with the world - however the closest we get to Brexit
ReplyDelete" no deal " the more I anxious I feel about everything else being our right