Prison governors’ warning

PRISON managers have warned they are losing control because of overcrowding and a lack of staff.

Andrea Albutt, president of the Prison Governors Association (PGA), said many prisons “are in crisis” and warned: “The recent increase in concerted indiscipline is of grave concern”.

It follows a 12-hour riot at HMP Birmingham, also known as Winson Green Prison, when prisoners took over four wings and caused £2m of damage.

This week, riot officers were sent into HMP The Mount in Hertfordshire after inmates took over a wing for the second time in 24 hours. Ms Albutt launched a blistering attack on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in an open letter addressed to fellow prison governors.

She said: “We know many prisons are in crisis and I deliberately use that term, because it can’t be dressed up in any other way.”

The governor warned that an unfore- seen rise in prisoner numbers had left the estate with “virtually no headroom” in spaces, while seasonal pressures were adding strain to limited staffing levels.

“The instability we are seeing is clearly linked to a poor regime,” Ms Albutt said. “This toxic mix does not have a quick fix and the future looks like more of the same.”

The governor said the issue of prison officer recruitment remained “critical”, with a net increase in the number of prison officers in 2016/17 of just 75.

However she also raised concerns that a drive to increase the number of officer numbers too rapidly may cause further issues.

A spokesman for the MoJ said: “We know that our prisons have faced a number of long-standing challenges, which is why we have taken immediate action to boost prison officer numbers and have created Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.”