PRT comment: HMIP report on men’s training prisons during Covid-19 period
Commenting on the findings of today’s report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, Peter Dawson, Director for Prison Reform Trust said:
“This report highlights the government s failure to support the often heroic efforts of staff and prisoners to stay safe during the pandemic. An effective early release plan would have freed up capacity in the estate to maintain social distancing while ensuring the basics of a humane and decent regime. But only a handful of prisoners have been released under the restrictive measures the government has introduced.
“This has left prisons such as Coldingley resorting to the routine use of buckets in cells, and consigning prisoners to sit in accommodation for 23 hours a day which ought to have been decommissioned long ago. This approach is simply not sustainable. The worrying levels of violence observed in two of the three prisons is a troubling indicator of the toll the situation is taking on the wellbeing of prisoners and staff. Ministers must now act decisively to give prisons the headroom they need.”
Commenting on the findings of today’s report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, Peter Dawson, Director for Prison Reform Trust said:
“This report highlights the government s failure to support the often heroic efforts of staff and prisoners to stay safe during the pandemic. An effective early release plan would have freed up capacity in the estate to maintain social distancing while ensuring the basics of a humane and decent regime. But only a handful of prisoners have been released under the restrictive measures the government has introduced.
“This has left prisons such as Coldingley resorting to the routine use of buckets in cells, and consigning prisoners to sit in accommodation for 23 hours a day which ought to have been decommissioned long ago. This approach is simply not sustainable. The worrying levels of violence observed in two of the three prisons is a troubling indicator of the toll the situation is taking on the wellbeing of prisoners and staff. Ministers must now act decisively to give prisons the headroom they need.”
