MP,
Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to the HM Chief
Inspector of Prisons’ annual report, said:
“Since the start of this crisis Labour has repeatedly said
it is not sustainable or acceptable to leave prisoners locked up
in cells for 23 hours a day for months on end.
“Damaging prisoners' mental health is inhumane and will
increase the chances of them re-offending when they are let
out.
“The Government urgently needs to introduce a circuit break
and use the time to get a grip on testing and contact
tracing.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
The annual report highlights problems within prisons,
including:
· Inspectors found widespread poor performance
in the area of purposeful activity, which “sits at the heart of
whether a prison can offer a safe, decent and rehabilitative
environment.”
· Given the obvious linkage between excessive
time locked in cells and mental health issues, self-harm and drug
abuse, it was also concerning to find that the amount of time for
which prisoners were unlocked for time out of cell was often
unacceptably poor. Mr Clarke asked: “Is it any surprise that
self-harm in prisons has been running at historically high levels
during the past year? Prisoners often tell us they are harming
themselves to gain some attention, for instance if their
applications or complaints are being ignored.”
· Mr Clarke called for a more sophisticated
analysis of self-harm, particularly in women’s prisons where, for
many years, levels of self-harm have been far higher. It was also
worrying, Mr Clarke said, in the early stages of the COVID-19
crisis, that an apparent levelling off in self-harm was not
properly analysed or explained, “and some even tried to argue
that longer periods locked in cells did not contribute to levels
of self-harm. Such superficial commentary should, in my view, be
treated with extreme caution.”
· The ability of prisoners to rehabilitate and
progress towards a safe and purposeful release back into the
community is, in most cases, critically dependant on a process
known as the Offender Assessment System (OASys). For several
years, Mr Clarke said, “we have found that this system is
failing.”
