The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to Her Majesty’s
Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on Guys Marsh prison in Dorset,
published today (Tuesday 11 April).
When Guys Marsh was inspected in 2014, inspectors concluded that
it was a prison in crisis where staff had all but lost
control.
Today’s report is based on a follow-up inspection, conducted in
December 2016, of which the prison had been given six months’
notice. Inspectors found that Guys Marsh continued to fail in
almost every area.
The prison was overcrowded – designed to accommodate 518 men, but
actually holding 543 – and it remained a dangerous place. One in
four prisoners said that they felt unsafe at the time of the
inspection, and about half said that they had felt unsafe at some
point during their time there. Three men had lost their lives
through suicide since the previous inspection.
Assaults on staff had tripled since the last inspection, and
assaults on prisoners had risen by two-thirds. Violence was much
more common in Guys Marsh than in comparable prisons, and many
prisoners were seeking sanctuary or refusing to come out of their
cells for their own protection. One of the wings acted as a
permanent sanctuary for those fearing for their own safety.
About three in four men said that it was easy to get drugs. One
in four said that they had a developed a drug problem while in
the prison. Spice was widely used.
The prison was dirty. Many cells had window panes missing, and
prisoners struggled to get basics like bedding, kit and cleaning
materials.
Too many prisoners were released without somewhere suitable to
live.
Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for
Penal Reform, said: “Guys Marsh prison was given
six months’ notice that inspectors were coming, and yet it was
still found to be failing in almost every respect. Every warning
light on the dashboard is flashing, as is the case across the
prison system.
“This is a dirty, overcrowded prison where men can get drugs
easily but cannot get bedding. Where there are drugs there is
debt, and where there is debt there is violence. This is the
third prison inspection report in six weeks to describe men being
so frightened for their safety that they refuse to leave their
cells.
“The Howard League is offering solutions. We have shown ministers
how, by taking bold but sensible action to reduce the number of
people in prison, we can prevent more people being swept away
into deeper currents of crime and despair.”
