PRT comment: HMP Exeter

Commenting on the publication of the HM Inspectorate of Prisons report of HMP Exeter, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said:

“Yet again the government’s response to another damning inspection report promises more staff as the solution. Even if that can be delivered, two-thirds of people in Exeter prison will still be sharing cells designed for one. This is not about leadership, governor autonomy or recruitment. Overcrowding undermines all aspects of prison life and it is a scandal that the government doesn’t even have a target date to eliminate it—still less a plan to do so. The problem is staring us in the face—our overuse of prison—and nothing in the government’s reform package currently addresses it.”