Grayling denies prison crisis amid another damning report

By Ian Dunt

Chris Grayling was forced to deny there is a prison crisis today, after another damning report by the prisons inspector painted a bleak picture of staff-shortages and violence.

Chief inspector's Nick Hardwick's report into Isis Young Offenders Institution in Thamesmead, which was set up three years ago, is the third critical report in two weeks.

It noted high levels of assault, low levels of trust between inmates and guards, and a regime which barely allowed men out of their cell during the day.

Ministry of Justice figures show assaults in jail are skyrocketing, with 14,083 in 2012-13 and 15,033 in 2013-14.

In his first comments on the steady stream of negative prison stories, Grayling told the BBC violence on the prison estate was lower than it was five years ago.

"We're meeting those challenges, we're recruiting more staff. I am absolutely clear there is not a crisis in our prisons," he told the Today programme.

The damning report found that staff shotages had led to a restricted emergency regime which was intended to be temporary but was still in place during the unannounced inspection nearly a year later.

Inspectors described "curtailment of routines, more limited access to facilities, and a significant negative impact on the life of the prison".

Nearly a third of prisoners felt unsafe and many were afraid of other inmates. Most acts of violence involved a group attacking an individual. The use of weapons was common.

"Arrangements to support violence reduction were unsophisticated, and based almost exclusively on punishment or sanction," the inspectors found.

"The facility was clean but access to amenities was needlessly restricted with prisoners lacking anything purposeful to do.
Access to showers and telephones was limited and staff and prisoners were given few opportunities to interact with each other, thereby reducing trust between the two groups.

"It was our view that these restrictions limited opportunities for staff and prisoners to engage with each other, and frustration at the amount of lock-up experienced by prisoners, undermined good relationships between them," it found.

"The prison's restricted regime greatly limited prisoners' access to time out of cell and there were insufficient training and work places to fully occupy the population."

Prison reform groups have long argued that dramatic staff reductions, combined with a growing prison population and a harsh new regime, were creating a perfect storm of potential disorder in the prison estate, but the justice secretary has not responded to their concerns.

Instead, he has attacked prison reformers as secret Labour party supporters in an article for the Telegraph this weekend.

"Britain's professional campaigners are growing in number: sending emails around the country, flocking around Westminster, dominating BBC programmes, and usually articulating a left-wing vision which is neither affordable nor deliverable – and wholly at odds with the long-term economic plan this government has worked so hard to put in place," he wrote.

After years of being warned of the effects of staff shortages in prisons, Grayling started recruiting a reserve force of prison officers in June.

The Ministry of Justice has claimed that it is leading a revolution in rehabilitation by making inmates work for privileges, such as TV or books.

Under new rules introduced last November, prisoners are not allowed to have books or other items sent to them in the post.

Instead they must earn money through work and can then spend it on books or other items in the prison shop.

However, reports from inside prisons - which are difficult to secure due to a clamp-down on prisoners talking to journalists - suggest there are few work opportunities.

Staff reductions and an ever-growing prison population also means many prisoners are kept in their cells up to 23-hours a day.

This leaves them unable to access prison libraries or education services, or even do physical exercise.