The Prison Reform Trust and Howard League for Penal Reform have received a brief response to our letter to the Secretary of State for Justice, Robert Buckland, requesting details of the ministry’s plans ahead of an expected increase in people being sent to prison as courts start to resume normal business.

For all the billions that have been promised for new prisons, it is clear that there is no plan for a prison estate free of overcrowding, despite the misery people have suffered during  the pandemic in prisons holding too many people too close together.

Click here to read his response.

We were pleased to receive a response from the Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland this week to our joint letter with the Howard League of 13 October.

His response is full and quite detailed. It shows that the prison service has made a thorough and genuine attempt to quickly learn the lessons from its initial response to the pandemic in the spring. It has done so not just through its own research but by taking on board what we in our CAPPTIVE reports(1)(2), and many other organisations, have been telling it. No-one is pretending that everything is as we would want it, and the adjusted approach the prison service wants to take now is dependent on staffing and on how the virus progresses in individual prisons and in the community. But we can point to some significant improvements at least in what the prison service is trying to deliver:

• Many more in-cell phones.

• More and better PPE for staff and prisoners.

• More testing of both staff and prisoners.

• Continuation of compassionate release, albeit in a small number of cases.

• Continuation of phone credit, free video calls and compassionate iPad access.

• Updating its website with the latest information.

• Proposed weekly public bulletin.

• More local discretion and a policy of keeping more regime activities running where a prison is able to do so.

• Better policy intentions on face to face education and visits for children.

• Acknowledgement of the priority for people coming up to parole.

What the Lord Chancellor’s letter did not do, however, was answer the question about planning for the moment when prison numbers start to rise again, as courts reduce their backlog, and the government’s 20,000 extra police staff start to hit the streets.

The case for an early release scheme is still overwhelming, so we have written back to the Lord Chancellor asking him to set out what his plan is to avoid the all too predictable next crisis on prison numbers. You can read that letter by clicking here.

The Prison Reform Trust and the Howard League for Penal Reform have written to the Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland today in the light of the rapidly developing situation in prisons in relation to outbreaks of Covid-19.

The letter calls for greater transparency, to ensure that prisoners and their families are able to understand the basis on which decisions are being taken, including the publication of evidence and advice received by ministers on the risks of transmission in prisons; and the different measures taken to contain the spread of Covid-19.

It also highlights a number of policy decisions which the charities believe could and should be taken now to reassure prisoners and their families about the difficult months ahead. These include:

• devising a much simpler, more generous and therefore more effective scheme for the conditional early release of prisoners to make space within the estate to improve infection control;

• the continuation of additional phone credit, free video calls and access on compassionate grounds to communication through electronic means; and

• ensuring that opportunities for progression for adult prisoners whose prospects of release on parole are prioritised.

Click here to read a copy of the letter

Last month the Prison Reform Trust and Howard League for Penal Reform wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice, Robert Buckland, warning that the current conditions that are said to have been containing the virus so far are unsustainable in the medium to longer term.

We have now received a response to our letter, which you can read by clicking here.

Commenting on the publication of guidance outlining how the government plans to ease coronavirus-related restrictions in prisons, Peter Dawson, Director of Prison Reform Trust said:

“The pandemic continues to make massive demands on the endurance of the people who live and work in prison. What this roadmap misses out is the most important way in which politicians could actually reduce those demands. Above all, the system needs to be caring for fewer people. But maintaining prison capacity is put on the same level as preserving life. What that means in practice is that ministers are putting a desire to continue locking people up on a par with saving life in prison. That can’t be right.”

The two leading prison reform groups in the country have today (Wednesday 6 May) published more than a dozen key documents that shed further light on the government’s response to coronavirus in prisons in England and Wales.

Lawyers for the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prison Reform Trust wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice last month, threatening legal action over the government’s failure to release more people from prison during the pandemic. Now the charities have been granted permission by the government to publish its reply, including enclosures that provide more information about developments in the situation behind bars and the advice given to ministers.

At the same time, the charities have written another letter to the Secretary of State, warning that the current conditions that are said to have been containing the virus so far are unsustainable in the medium to longer term.

The documents reveal that the government was warned in late March that as many as 3,500 people in prison could die during the pandemic. This is in stark contrast to updated advice published by the Ministry of Justice a month later, which estimated that 100 people would die.

In their reply to the charities, the government’s lawyers confirmed that the programme of releases had not been abandoned. They stated that, as of 28 April, 200 people in prison had been approved for temporary release and a further 300 were being considered with further information awaited. However, the programme of temporary releases remains very limited.

While the charities have not issued judicial review proceedings at this time, they continue to monitor the position closely. Their latest letter to the Secretary of State, sent today, calls on the government to publish advice promptly in future, to reveal its plans to ease restrictions in prisons, and to extend the temporary release scheme.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said:

“Our vital role as civil society organisations is to hold the government to account. The documents that we are publishing today would never have seen the light of day, were it not for our legal intervention. Transparency is essential in a time of crisis.

“We also have a responsibility to keep probing, to hold ministers to their promises, and to call for action. That is what we are doing now.

“As things stand, the government strategy in prisons rests on levels of isolation that amount to prolonged solitary confinement. It is neither sustainable nor humane.

“Positive steps to create space in prisons would make them more purposeful and save lives.”

Peter Dawson, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“The documents we are publishing show that what appears to be containment of the virus in prisons at present still rests on the most fragile of foundations.

“Sticking to the current regime of almost universal bang up simply isn’t sustainable for the next 12 months. And without government intervention, the prison population is bound to return to previous levels as courts come back into action. A much more generous early release scheme remains an essential part of what is needed to keep people safe.

“We welcome the invitation to work together. Everyone who lives or works in prisons has a stake in doing so. For that to happen, what matters now is that the government pro-actively shares its plans for the future and the advice on which they are based.”

The charities’ letter states: “It is clear that the risk [from coronavirus] is only contained while admissions to custody remain low and prisoners remain effectively in solitary confinement. That is unsustainable for any long period. Yet it is anticipated that these conditions will need to be maintained for a further 12 months if the virus is to be controlled. That risks serious harm to tens of thousands of prisoners and provides further evidence for the need to progress with the programme of releases.”

The letter goes on to say: “The restrictions on the prison regime mean that people in prison are either in overcrowded conditions or prolonged solitary confinement. The damage inflicted on individuals’ psychological health and prospects of progression by current regimes will become intolerable. The courts will start to resume work and crime is likely to rise as lockdown restrictions in the community are lifted. Inter-prison transfers will become essential in order to make space in local prisons.”

Confirmed cases of coronavirus have been recorded in more than half of prisons in England and Wales. As of 5pm on Monday (4 May), 362 prisoners have tested positive across 74 prisons. A total of 401 prison staff, working in 67 prisons, and 13 Prisoner Escort and Custody Services staff have also tested positive.

As part of the Prison Reform Trust’s continuing efforts to scrutinise the government’s response to managing Covid-19 in our prisons, our director Peter Dawson has submitted his latest evidence to the House of Commons Justice Committee today.

PRT continues to share evidence with the committee, drawn from our contact with people in prison and those working to support them during this exceptionally difficult time, in addition to our policy and advocacy work to improve public transparency in the government’s advice and decision making.