Quantcast
Channel: Nottingham Post Latest Stories Feed
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10940

Riot fears as cuts bite at city prison

$
0
0

NOTTINGHAM Prison is "at breaking point" due to staff cuts, it is claimed, after a damning report.

The report released yesterday by the Independent Monitoring Board says changes in operations, due to a lack of funding, are "unsustainable" and will lead to "more prisoner disruption and a further reduction in already low staff morale".

According to the report, over the past year the prison has:

Stopped prisoners having showers.

Cancelled work experience and education due to wing "lock-downs".

Contaminated Muslim inmates' food with non-Halal and pork meat.

Put prisoners with serious mental health problems in unsuitable cells

Housed prisoners on remand with category B offenders

Seen two-thirds of staff in one wing taking sick leave due to pressure.

It blames the mistakes on recent cuts in funding for the prison in Perry Road, in Sherwood, which was reduced by £5m – or 25% – in 2013, leading to the loss of 140 prison officers. Yet, in the same period, the capacity of the prison rose by 40 to 1,100.

The report says: "Staff have been clearly challenged by what is expected of them and prison management have directed a great deal of time to addressing day-by-day difficulties."

Other problems included prisoners with religious beliefs being stopped from observing prayer times and those with medical problems being unable to get their medication because they could not leave their cells to see a doctor during lock-downs..

The cut in the budget has also led to increasing problems with food.

The money per head for meals stands at £1.93, and even with a proposed rise to £2.03, the figure remains lower than it was in 2010 – leading to poor quality, along with simple, healthy foods like fruit being deemed "luxury items".

The report coincided with a statement from the Howard League for Penal Reform, which showed job cuts at HMP Nottingham amounted to a 31 per cent reduction since 2010, during a time where there was a "deepening prison overcrowding crisis" and "an alarming rise" in suicides of people in custody.

The charity warns that suicides, assaults and riots will become increasingly common unless action is taken to increase officer numbers and reduce prisoners.

Director of campaigns Andrew Neilson said: "This terrible report supports our research into the disastrous impact of overcrowding and under-staffing in prisons.

"Nottingham is now a prison where the people it holds cannot shower, take medication, work, learn, visit the gym, attend a library or eat any fruit.

"Squeezing ever more people into under-resourced and overcrowded prisons is a grave misuse of public money which will only lead to more crime and more victims."

The Post contacted both the Ministry of Justice, and Rushcliffe MP and former Justice Secretary Ken Clarke for comment but received no response.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10940

Trending Articles



<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>