Concern for fate of young prisoners

8:00am Monday 26th September 2011
By Stuart Arnold


A SENIOR official with the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has raised the alarm about overcrowding at the region’s young offender institutions.

The prison population in England and Wales reached an all-time high for the third week running on Friday.
The total number of prisoners hit 87,214, 94 higher than last week’s record high of 87,120 and about 1,600 short of the usable operational capacity of 88,818, Ministry of Justice figures showed.

Those figures follow the jailing of hundreds of rioters following the violent outbreaks in London, Manchester and Birmingham last month.

Terry Fullerton, the POA’s national executive member for the North-East and North Yorkshire, said: “If there is a blow-up in one area and that area cannot cope, you have to start to move prisoners around to the places where there are spaces.

“A knock-on effect takes place right around the country.”
Mr Fullerton said he was particularly worried at the moment about the fate of younger-age prisoners.
He said, because of the current overcrowded conditions, many were being moved to adult prisons prior to the end of their sentences.

“We are seeing a lot of pressure on the likes of Deerbolt (near Barnard Castle) and Northallerton,” he said.
“What happens then is you have young offenders being held in adult establishments to ease that pressure.
“That does not have a good effect on the individuals concerned.

“They need to be with their peer groups and, unfortunately, they learn the criminal trade a lot faster in adult jails.”

Mr Fullerton said 200 new places at Holme House Prison, near Stockton, which became available earlier this year, had helped relieve overcrowding in the region.

But some prisons were still “bursting at the seams”, which meant there was nothing for many inmates to do.

He said: “You have people spending a lot of time idle, quite a lot of them who are already quite angry at being sent inside, and quite often they take their frustrations out on staff.”

Mr Fullerton also renewed the POA’s attack on “absolutely horrendous” plans to privatise more prisons, including Durham and Acklington and Castington, in Northumberland.

He said: “When the Government is talking about reducing numbers in jails, it does not make any sense to do this and won’t change what is happening.

“The private sector won’t want to reduce prisoner numbers.


“The cost of prison places is down to how many people you have in your establishment, so if a prison is full, the more profit will be made.

“If the Government wants to be honest about privatisation, they want to look at the cost of private sector prisons – every one costs more than their public sector counterparts.”

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “We currently have enough prison places for those being remanded and sentenced to custody.”

Prisons at breaking point with UK riot burden

Britain's prisons are under huge strain as a result of the rioting, probation workers warned.

Jails and young offender centres are coming precariously close to full capacity as levels reach a record high.

And Napo, the trade union for probation and family court staff, warned that jailed rioters will have ‘zero’ chance of rehabilitation as the total prison population reached the 86,000 mark.

Harry Fletcher, Napo’s assistant general secretary, warned space for prisoners was dwindling as hundreds of suspected looters and rioters go through the courts.

He said many of those convicted of offences relating to the unrest were being taken to prisons far from their homes because there ‘simply isn’t space’. ‘This is causing massive problems for prisons,’ he added.

‘There are so many of them coming through. I spoke to someone in Nottingham this week who said they had received 30-odd prisoners from all over the country.

‘The only places with significant spare capacity are the open prisons. There are so many people coming through the system. It is causing considerable problems. When people are being held far from home it causes difficulties for probation and families.’

More than 115 people have been convicted so far over the riots, while 843 are being kept in jails awaiting outcomes of their cases. Almost 1,300 people have been charged so far from more than 2,500 arrests. In London alone, police are aiming for 3,000 convictions relating to the disorder. Cases continue to be heard every day.

The Ministry of Justice insisted yesterday it had sufficient room to deal with the extra prisoners and that there were currently 2,000 unused spaces in prisons in England and Wales.

However, Mr Fletcher said: ‘There are 2,000 spaces but many of them are waiting to be refurbished or are unfit for habitation. The actual figure is much lower.’

He also warned that centres for young offenders were under pressure too. ‘Half of the people convicted so far have not reached 18. The young offenders institutions have only about 200 places left, they will be full soon.’

The shortage of space in prisons is likely to mean the opportunity for offenders to learn from their crimes will be lost. ‘The potential for constructive work is zero. The potential for rehabilitation would be zero,’ he said.

Mr Fletcher said it was unlikely the government would take the step of releasing existing prisoners early to make way for jailed rioters. ‘My own view is that would be so controversial it would be politically impossible,’ he said.
Napo represents more than 9,000 probation and family court staff throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: ‘We currently have enough prison places for those being sentenced to custody as a result of public disorder. There is substantial capacity in the prison system.’

The total prison population at the end of last week was 85,931, up more than 400 from the previous week before the riots.

The previous weekly record was on July 22 last month, when the population was 85,578.

A spokesman for the Youth Justice Board said: ‘We have sufficient capacity and, should we need them, contingency measures as well.’

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/872687-prisons-at-breaking-point-with-uk-riot-burden#ixzz1VTH8Scih

Prison population in England and Wales at record high

The number of prisoners in England and Wales has reached an all-time high, the Ministry of Justice has said.

Its latest figures showed the prison population now stands at 85,578, just 2,500 short of the usable operational capacity.

The new figures tops the previous record set in October by 83.

Last month Prime Minister David Cameron axed Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke's plans to let offenders who plead guilty out early, saying it was "too lenient".

The most recent figures for Scotland, published in December 2010, said the jail population north of the border was 7,964.

Mr Clarke has said the numbers are too high, and he wants a greater emphasis placed on rehabilitation and community sentences.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "We will always ensure there are sufficient prison places for offenders sentenced to custody by courts.

"There is currently a substantial margin between our available capacity and the actual population. New accommodation continues to become available and in the next 12 months 2,500 new places will become operational."
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“Start Quote

I implore the government to bite the bullet and find a strategic way to reduce the prison population by putting an end to short term prison sentences”

Frances Crook Howard League for Penal Reform

The Howard League for Penal Reform's director, Frances Crook, said: "Every week we cram hundreds more people into our already bulging jails, only for people to leave prison unchanged and to go back to crime.

"Prisons are awash with drugs, violence and arson and this is inflicted on local communities when people leave prison. The answer to rising prison populations is not to build more failing jails.

"This ceaseless growth in prison numbers is untenable and I implore the government to bite the bullet and find a strategic way to reduce the prison population by putting an end to short term prison sentences.

"A record prison high is a sign of failure, not success."

The Prison Service said it would be opening three new facilities:

A new unit providing 180 spaces at HMP Moorland in South Yorkshire (October 2011)
A completely new prison, HMP Belmarsh West, in south east London providing 900 spaces (March 2012)
A huge new prison, HMP Featherstone 2, near Wolverhampton, providing 1,600 spaces (in two phases - April and June 2012).

A spokesman said: "This new accommodation will contribute to an overall upgrade of the prison estate allowing us to close worn out and inefficient places and, in doing so, means a more cost effective prison service."