"This shocking situation underlines the dangerous consequences
of the ever greater privatisation of our justice system.
“HMP Birmingham was the first publicly-run prison to be
transferred to the private sector. This should be a nail in the
coffin for the flawed idea of prison privatisation. The
government must scrap its recently announced plans to build yet
more private prisons.
“With a Labour government, there will be no new private prisons
and no public sector prisons will be privatised."
The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter Clarke, confirmed the
move after the prison failed all the key tests in
its latest inspection.
Justice Secretary is being urged to address
the issues at the prison, which is privately run by G4S.
The Ministry of Justice said it was waiting to hear the
Inspectorate of Prisons findings. G4S did not comment.
The prison, in the Winson Green area of the city, was graded
"poor" on all four categories: safety, respect, activity and
resettlement.
Inspectors concluded their two-week unannounced scrutiny of
the facility on Thursday.
The urgent notification notice is the first issued for a
prison run by a private company and will require Mr Gauke to
formulate an action plan within 28 days to improve HMP
Birmingham.
A Prison Service spokesman said: "We await the inspectorate's
findings and we will respond fully to their report and
recommendations".
Only two other prisons - Nottingham and Exeter - have been
issued with such notices since the system began last year.
Separately, the BBC has learned that inspectors' cars were
among nine torched outside the prison on Tuesday by two men
reportedly "armed with a firearm".
It is not thought the vehicles were deliberately targeted.
One police line of inquiry is that the arson attack was
connected to a major drugs operation in the prison.
The Victorian jail was the scene of a riot in December 2016
which caused huge damage to four wings and resulted in 500
prisoners being moved out.
An inspection report last year found a "high volume of
illicit drugs" and described education and training as a
"major area of concern".
