Union chief: Jails are crumbling, violent and understaffed

THE president of the Prison Governors Association is to accuse the Government of failing to respond quickly enough to the jail safety crisis.

Andrea Albutt will claim “dis-investment” has contributed to the decline in standards that has hit much of the estate in England and Wales.

In a scathing critique, she will say: “A constant irritation of mine is that the Government do not have the humility to admit that they got their policy completely wrong this decade in our prisons.”

Addressing the PGA’s annual conference today, Ms Albutt will paint a bleak picture of the state of jails, pointing to “horrendous” quarterly statistics on violence.

She is expected to say: “We have crumbling prisons and an inability to give a safe, decent and secure regime to large numbers of men and women in our care due to lack of staff, not-fit-for-purpose contracts and a much more violent, disrespectful gang and drug-affiliated population.”

Ms Albutt will acknowledge that she has “waxed lyrical” about austerity measures in prisons in recent years.

But she will insist “it cannot be ignored or dressed up in any other way, our prisons are in the state they are in due to dis-investment and a complete failure to react to the crisis in a timely manner by Government”, adding: “What this has reaped is the state we are in and the immense struggle we are facing in trying to pull ourselves out of the mire”.

Hitting back at criticism levelled at prison leaders, she will tell the conference: “The majority of governors are the same people, competent, committed and brave. The only way our prisons will achieve sustained improvement is if there is a will in Government to fund us appropriately.”