Prison hell is symptomatic of austerity

ON a daily basis an ambulance arrives at Holme House Prison.

The emergency is always down to the same thing - the drug known as Spice.

We’ve known it was a problem in our jails for a long time.

But know, as experts say, prisons are ‘awash’ with it.

There are a number of different solutions proposed.

On one hand, rehabilitation and improved conditions. And on the other, more staff, scanners, and dedicated search teams. Both approaches, however, are tackling the same problem - austerity.

Proper investment in prisons would mean they were clean, safe and fully-staffed. Instead, the government has chosen to underinvest in the sector. That has left our jails in a shocking state.

The only proper solution is to give them the cash they deserve.

Some people find it difficult to have sympathy for prisoners.

But it’s not just in our jails that austerity is biting.

It’s hard to argue with the malnutrition stats we reveal today.

Hospital admissions of people so under nourished they need treatment have increased threefold in the last ten years. Millions go without food every day.

And experts say this state of affairs is driven by cuts to benefits and wages falling while food prices soar. That is people on the edge of starvation. That’s in Britain. In the 21st Century. Again, austerity underpins it all. Sometimes, the government fail to see what is really going on in the country. So let’s spell it out for them very simply:

Austerity means our jails are so riddled with drugs that NHS nurses fall sick just visiting them.

Austerity means our children are going hungry. Your project has failed. It needs to end.