Jail bosses respond to claims of frightening conditions
CLAIMS that conditions inside HMP Northumberland during lockdown are “frightening” have resurfaced, as video emerges of a prisoner’s rooftop protest.
People who contacted The Chronicle to say they had loved ones inside the prison claimed they were told the man had climbed on to the roof to “protest” prison conditions.
The inmate made his way on to the roof at around 2pm on Saturday, eventually returning to the ground safely just after midnight.
Footage shared on social media from the prison shows the man emerging on to the roof, to cheers from those inside.
One person said he had remained on the roof so long “as the conditions is frightening” in the jail. They claimed the potential spread of coronavirus was a major concern for many inside.
Another, who said her partner was an inmate in the jail, said: “Basically they are locked up all day except for going for a shower for 10 minutes, dinner 10 minutes and 10 minutes exercise... All visits have stopped.
“The mental health inside right now is awful, there is no support for anyone. The officers aren’t helping as normal thinking they can treat prisoners the way they like. It’s pretty worrying the mindset of most of the prisoners in there right now, they need support. Being in prison is hard enough without all of this.”
But Sodexo, which runs the jail, says HMP Northumberland, which received a comparatively favourable report from an Independent Monitoring Board recently, remains “stable”.
Prison bosses say the man’s actions were not related to conditions resulting from Covid-19.
Legally, prisoners are not allowed to have personal mobiles phones inside. But one person who spoke to The Chronicle claiming to be a member of prison staff said: “I know they are breaking the rules by having phones but if they didn’t, no one would know what was going on.”
An HMP Northumberland spokesperson said: “We continue to operate fully within agreed Prison Service and Public Health guidelines to minimise the spread of Covid infection within the prison.
“This has necessarily involved significant restriction on levels of association to ensure social distancing.
“However, the prison is stable, with no increase in levels of violence or self-harm.
“We understand that this is a difficult period for prisoners and their families and hope to move towards re-establishing some services as soon as it is safe and sensible to do so, although a date cannot be set as yet.”