Jails chief to go as violence rises

THE head of Britain’s prisons has been effectively sacked amid rising violence, drugs, overcrowding and squalor behind bars.

Michael Spurr, chief executive of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, will leave his post in March after nine years in charge.

Last month, prisons minister Rory Stewart said more than 20 jails could be on the brink of spiralling out of control. On Friday, prison officers in England and Wales held a six-hour walkout in protest of the violence they face.

Richard Heaton, the Ministry of Justice’s top civil servant, asked Mr Spurr to step aside yesterday, saying it was the ‘right time’ to ask a new chief executive to take on the role.

He added: ‘Michael’s leadership has been exemplary. But we now need to look ahead.’

But critics said he had become the ‘fall guy’ for ministers who had imposed cuts on jails.