Government have just introduced "one more hairbrained scheme after another”
The union representing prison workers in the UK has blasted the latest government scheme to tackle an overcrowding crisis in prisons, slamming it as short cited and ‘hairbrained’.
This week the government announced a new scheme to allow thousands of prisoners to be released up to 18 days early, as well as a plan to return more foreign prisoners and find prison places abroad to rent for UK criminals, in a bid to ease prison overcrowding.
Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association (POA) slammed the announcement as indicative of a government that “cannot do its mathematics” and called it a crisis of the government’s own making.
Two-thirds of prisons in England and Wales are officially overcrowded, however the overcrowding crisis did not come out of nowhere.
Both predictable and preventable, Gillan highlighted government prison closures, tougher sentencing, increased recruitment in Police Forces, the failure to implement reforms for women prisoners and a failure to tackle the legacy of IPP sentences as issues that would “ultimately lead us to the chaos we are now facing”.
Mark Fairhurst, POA National Chair warned that by the end of this month the majority of prisons will be full, and described the current conditions for prison workers as “horrendous” and that prisoners are living in “squalor”, due to a lack of government investment.
He said the plan to return more prisoners overseas was “just another headline from the government,” questioning how ministers planned to return people to their country of origin if they didn’t have passports and that there will be legal challenges as well as the issue of countries not accepting them back.
He blasted the schemes as “another example of a short-term solution to a long-term problem”, as prison workers continued to be treated with “contempt” by the government.
“HMPPS will be in the same situation in the future when these anticipated 200 spaces are swallowed up by the system,” said Fairhurst.
“The frustrating thing with these announcements is that we are consulted on them, but we are never asked to advise or negotiate on what could be achieved within current resources.
“Despite our members being treated with contempt by this Government and our employer, they are loyal, resourceful, and resilient.
“Why does the employer or the Government refuse to engage with us on this problem, instead introducing one more hairbrained scheme after another?”
Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy called the Tories’ record on prisons “criminal” on Tuesday, and asked the government to apologise to prison officers who are, “dealing with the consequences of health and safety concerns, overcrowding and violence, undercut by low pay and poor terms and conditions”.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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