PRT comment: HMIP report on social care in prisons
Commenting on the publication of HMIP’s thematic report on social care in prisons in England and Wales, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“Changing the law to require local authorities to provide social care for people in prison was an important and sensible reform, but today’s report clearly shows that it is not delivering what parliament intended. Our prisons are increasingly filled with old people serving very long sentences. An overcrowded, under-resourced system is failing in many cases to provide humane care within prison, still less to prepare these people for what remains of their life when they are eventually released. The absence of a coherent, funded strategy to cope with a problem that can only become more severe is a glaring omission.
“The prisons minister has said that he wants to get the basics right. Ensuring that old, sick people are treated with dignity is about as basic as it gets.”
Commenting on the publication of HMIP’s thematic report on social care in prisons in England and Wales, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“Changing the law to require local authorities to provide social care for people in prison was an important and sensible reform, but today’s report clearly shows that it is not delivering what parliament intended. Our prisons are increasingly filled with old people serving very long sentences. An overcrowded, under-resourced system is failing in many cases to provide humane care within prison, still less to prepare these people for what remains of their life when they are eventually released. The absence of a coherent, funded strategy to cope with a problem that can only become more severe is a glaring omission.
“The prisons minister has said that he wants to get the basics right. Ensuring that old, sick people are treated with dignity is about as basic as it gets.”
