Jails are failing to get a grip on violence and drugs, says chief inspector

Britain’s jails are failing to get a grip on record levels of violence, suicides, self-harm and drug-taking which are all getting worse, the chief inspector of prisons warned yesterday.

Peter Clarke told MPs that since his annual report in July he had “not seen anything to give me optimism that any significant corner has been turned.”

He also attacked the prison service for failing to take his criticisms seriously as four jails he identified as in crisis had failed to implement as many as 80% of his recommendations.

“It suggests to me a lack of focus and to put it crudely not taking us seriously,” said Mr Clarke, a former head of counter-terrorism for the Metropolitan Police.

On safety, he said all the indicators were “going in the wrong direction,” including prisoner assaults on staff and prisoner attacks on each other.

“Incidence of self-harm is going up in a very worrying way,” he told the justice committee. In 90% of his reports on prisons last year, inspectors found failings on one or more of the key indicators for preventing self-harm and suicide.

He warned that drugs were destabilising too many jails and were directly associated with rising violence.

He also pointed to a "direct correlation" between worsening safety levels and falls in prison officer numbers: "In the five years leading up to 2013, levels of violence were steady or even slightly declining in some areas.

"Since 2013, there's been an inexorable rise. The correlation is that the second half of that decade coincides with the reduction in staff numbers within the estate.

Two years ago, ministers launched an effort to boost frontline prison officer ranks. As of September, the number of staff in key operational roles was at its highest since July 2012, but it remains more than 2,000 below the level in 2010.

Mr Clarke said the Government's recruitment drive "will help" and has yielded some positive changes in prisons. Whether they will achieve what needs to be achieved is another matter."

A Prison Service spokesman said: "We have recruited 4,300 new prison officers over the last two years - bringing staffing in public prisons to its highest level for five years - with 1,400 more due to begin training soon.

"We are also investing an extra £70 million to improve safety, security and decency - tackling the drugs which we know are fuelling much of the violence.

"This includes spending on new x-ray scanners, drug-detection dogs and phone-blocking technology.

"We are under no illusions that we will see immediate results in every prison across the estate - but we are confident that this extra investment is making a difference and its impact will increase over the coming months and years."