PRT comment: HMP Exeter

Commenting on the announcement today (18 November) that HM Chief Inspector of Prisons has issued a second Urgent Notification to HMP Exeter, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said:

“The human cost of our chronically overburdened prison system is laid bare by this damning report. 10 lives lost to suicide in four years. Time after time, the inspectorate describes prisons that do not keep people safe, and the same themes of chaos caused by overcrowding, inadequate staffing and permanent crisis management emerge. This wouldn’t be tolerated in any other public service, but ministers continue to pursue policies that pile the pressure on to a prison system that very plainly cannot cope. Exeter prison is a strategic and political failure just as much as an operational one.”