PRT comment: HMP Wandsworth

Commenting on the findings of conditions at HMP Wandsworth by HM Inspectorate of Prisons today Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“Wandsworth is emblematic of a system that has been running on fumes for many years, through our overuse of prison and chronic underinvestment in the prisons estate. Too many of our local inner-city prisons are afflicted with similar problems, including too few staff, and prisoners held in overcrowded and squalid conditions which are contributing to very high rates of violence, self-harm and self-inflicted death.

“Most worryingly, the government has inherited a prison system which is rapidly running out of effective options to respond.

“Previously, the first thing a prisons minister would consider was to rapidly decant a large number of people from the prison to give staff much needed breathing space to address concerns.

“But with prisons in the midst of a capacity crisis; a huge courts backlog; and an anticipated influx of far-right rioters, there is simply no give in the system to do this. These will be deeply worrying times for those who live and work in our prisons.”