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Issue No. 76 Spring 2017
THE ROTTEN STATE OF OUR PRISONS
Having attended the Prison Governors Association conference last week (11-12 October 2016), I decided that as soon as I had some free time I would write a piece for the newsletter while it was still fresh in my memory. On the day pencilled in to write the editorial I got up to the sight of John Attard, one of the PGA's National Officers, being interviewed live by Louise Minchin on BBC Breakfast, regarding the stabbing of a three prisoners in HMP Pentonville by a fellow inmate the previous day. One man was reported dead and the two other victims were reported as being in a critical condition. In other words they could still die. No staff were injured in the incident but that can hardly be described as a consolation, not least to the grieving family of the deceased who would have expected their relative to return safely to them once his time was served.
At conference, the PGA called for a public inquiry into the declining levels of safety in the nation's prisons. The call, which made the national news, was predictably ignored by the Government. How many tragedies do there have to be before the Government acts? Mr Attard repeated on the BBC the statistics given to the delegates last week. Prison officer grade numbers have fallen by 7,000 since 2012. In the same time frame one third of Governor-grade posts have disappeared. As compared with 2012, violent assaults on staff have increased by 146%, self inflicted deaths have doubled, and instances of serious self harm are up by 10,000. The lame response of the MOJ has been to offer back 400 new prison officer posts and £14 million for the ten most troubled prisons. Given that the NOMS annual budget is now around £1 billion lower than in 2010, there are roughly a similar number of prisoners and that there are less places as a result of the closure of twelve establishments under the Coalition Government, this is a drop in the ocean.
How did we get to the rotten state we are in? Undoubtedly austerity is the principal culprit, although as John Attard pointed out, NOMS is not alone in that. The principal weapon of austerity in the service is "benchmarking." For the uninitiated its’ intention is to produce standardised staffing profiles based on the complexity of the prison. Combined with a voluntary severance scheme it delivers savings far quicker than privatisation, a spectre seen by the trade unions as the far greater evil. The principal sounds fine but the practice is based on already-dangerous private sector levels in an environment much harder to manage than a few years ago because of the growth of the gang culture and decline of deference, accompanied by a lack of respect which now sees female officers as fair game for violent assaults by male prisoners. As we have seen this summer the in-charge Governor is no longer ‘off limits’ either. The first thing that suffers is the normal staff/prisoner interaction that provides dynamic security. Prisoners unable to get their applications dealt with, or just have a chat with staff, will be more likely to resort to violence or self- harm to get attention. Staffing levels are not resilient enough to cope with additional sick leave amongst injured staff and the inevitable extra bed watches that result from fights or self-harming incidents. This affects the regime and access to basic facilities such as the telephone and library. Inevitably there is a reaction and the vicious circle begins again. To make matters worse the drug problem has changed. The drug of choice is now likely to be "spice" which only became illegal in the community in May 2016 but which, unlike cannabis, makes abusers exceptionally violent. It is in many ways the perfect storm.
Another Government weapon for saving money is outsourcing. Its’ most recent manifestation has been the privatisation of facilities and Estates Management, known to us old-timers as the Works Department. Like elsewhere in the public service it has been a disaster. Thus in certain prisons, new receptions have been placed in cells lacking one or more of glazing, heating or running water. What on earth happened to decency? It gets worse. Owing to population pressures Duty Governors are frequently leaned on by either Population Management or Regional Office or both to review prisoners assessed as high risk for cell-sharing the previous night, with a view to reducing them to standard risk and doubling them up. Where is the morality in this? This is the road to the first prosecution for corporate manslaughter and for the inevitable scapegoating of an unlucky Duty Governor as senior officials rush to do their Pontius Pilate impression.
While all this has been going there has been a simultaneous attack on pay and conditions. The so-called "Fair and Sustainable" programme to reform pay now sees more than 10,000 prison staff trapped in closed grades with their pay frozen until such a time as the pay of colleagues on new terms and conditions catches up. With public sector pay increases currently capped at 1% that is likely to be a very long wait. Long-serving prison officers and Senior Officers are the main sufferers, as the maximum of new pay rates is some 5k below those with pre-Fair and Sustainable terms and conditions. Thus cutting the public sector pay bill comes with the price tag of demoralising our most experienced front-line staff.
Where are the leaders of the service when all this is going on? I saw Michael Spurr on BBC Breakfast the day after the Birmingham riot. He was perhaps fortunate in being interviewed by Sally Nugent, whose usual brief is sport, rather than Naga Munchetty who has in the past demonstrated her ability to skewer the most slippery politician or civil servant. I am not a member of Michael Spurr's fan club and it's fair to say that is reciprocal, but I do not for one minute believe that he subscribes to the kind of drivel he is forced to spout. There is something unacceptable about politicians dodging their responsibility to face questions from broadcasters on our behalf, and instead passing the parcel to civil servants when it is policy failure we are talking about. There is so much more I could say and there is a piece specifically devoted to Conference elsewhere in the newsletter. One question to finish: if you could start your time again, would you now join?
PAUL LAXTON, EDITOR
EDITOR’s UPDATE 20 FEBRUARY 2017: Since I penned the original editorial the Justice Secretary, Elizabeth Truss, has acquired more funds than were available last Autumn. Some 2,500 officers will be recruited by the end of 2018, but this still only restores about 35% of the lost prison officers, and of course, it restores 0% of the experience lost. Ms Truss has also found cash to give pay raises to prison officers in 31 jails concentrated almost exclusively in the south-east of the country, 3-5K being quoted in the press. Again there are significant caveats. Only staff who have joined under the 2013 terms and conditions are eligible. It gives nothing to experienced staff in closed grades, and nothing to those whose maximum salary is around 5k per annum less than pre-2013 colleagues if they work in the other three-quarters of penal establishments outside the south-east. There is nothing for OSG’s and nothing for Governor grades. It is a purely marketplace solution to some very complex problems.
Paul Laxton
