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History > 2007 > UK > Prisons (II)
Peter Tobin attacked by inmates
in protection wing
November
22, 2007
From Times Online
Hannah Strange
Peter
Tobin, the former handyman charged with murdering the schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton,
was unable to attend a court hearing today after he was attacked in his prison
cell by other inmates, despite being housed in a special protection wing.
As Miss Hamilton’s family waited anxiously outside Linlithgow Sheriff Court amid
heightened security, Scotland’s Crown Office announced that the hearing had been
postponed for at least 24 hours. “We will not be in a position to say whether
he’ll appear on Friday until tomorrow morning,” a spokesperson added.
An official at the Scottish Prison Service told Times Online that Mr Tobin, 61,
remained in hospital after being assaulted yesterday at Edinburgh’s Saughton
Prison.
Doctors were still assessing the severity of Mr Tobin’s injuries, but they were
not thought to be life-threatening, the official said. An investigation has been
launched into the incident, which occurred in the jail’s protection wing where
vulnerable prisoners are housed.
Mr Tobin was due to appear at Linlithgow Sheriff Court for the second time over
the death of Miss Hamilton, 15, whose body was found at his former home in
Margate, Kent last week.
Attending a private hearing last Wednesday, at which he entered no plea, he was
confronted outside the court by Vicky Hamilton’s father, who had to be
restrained by police as he was led into the prison van.
Following last week’s incident, when members of the Hamilton family were joined
by a 50-strong crowd in hurling abuse at the suspect, a line of eight police
officers barred family, press and public from the road at the side of the court
building ahead of today’s anticipated hearing.
Miss Hamilton’s skeleton was discovered at Mr Tobin's former home in Margate
while police searched for another missing teenager, Dinah McNicol, whose remains
were later unearthed in the garden of the three bedroom council house.
Mr Tobin has also been questioned over Ms McNicol's death.
Miss Hamilton disappeared while waiting for a bus home to Redding, near Falkirk,
in February 1991. Her mother, Janette, died in 1993, aged 41, without having
learnt her daughter’s fate.
Her father said today that he had asked detectives to keep her body until after
Christmas, when she would be buried in a cemetery near Edinburgh.
"I don't want to bring my daughter back at Christmas. It will not make it a
happy time of the year...I have asked CID to give her back in January," he said.
"She will be buried in the local cemetery alongside me. I am going to buy two
plots and she will be in one and I will be in the other when the time comes."
Dinah, 18, vanished after attending a music festival in Liphook, Hampshire in
1991, the same year that Vicky disappeared. It is believed she disappeared after
hitch-hiking home with a man she met there.
Peter Tobin attacked by inmates in protection wing, Ts
Online, 22.11.2007,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2920635.ece
2.15pm update
600
custody deaths in 2006,
study finds
Friday
September 21, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
David Batty and agencies
There were
around 600 deaths in custody in England and Wales last year, a third of them
suicides, according to a report published today.
The study,
by the Forum For Preventing Deaths In Custody, found there were 500 to 600
deaths in custody each year, some of which were preventable.
The figures - covering deaths in police cells, prisons, approved premises and
secure hospitals - included deaths from natural causes, suicides and other
events such as homicides.
Around 400 of the deaths each year were due to natural causes and 200 were
self-inflicted, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said.
This makes the suicide rate in custody around 33 times greater than that in the
general population. Suicides account for just 1% of deaths in people aged over
15 in the UK.
In 2004-05 - the most recent year with a full breakdown of the cause of deaths
in custody - 127 of the 590 deaths in custody were suicides.
There were 523 deaths in custody in 2006-07 but this figure did not include
deaths in police custody. In 2005-06 there were 586 deaths.
The number of suicides in prisons alone fell from 78 in 2005 to 67 last year,
but the figure is on the rise again this year. There have been 68 jail suicides
so far in 2007 compared with 46 at the same point last year. Prison reform
campaigners have blamed the rise on record levels of overcrowding.
John Wadham, the chairman of the Forum For Preventing Deaths In Custody, said:
"The number of deaths in custody is the mark of a civilised society. I think
this is too high and we need to reduce it."
He said individual institutions had learned lessons from mistakes that had
contributed to deaths on their premises, but these lessons were not being shared
across the board.
One example was that not all institutions had taken adequate steps to remove
ligature points from cells in order to help stop inmates hanging themselves.
Mr Wadham warned that the report had found suicidal people could be "very
inventive about where they can attach ligatures".
The forum was established after the parliamentary joint committee on human
rights called for the Home Office and the Department for Health to set up a body
to monitor deaths in any form of state custody, including mental hospitals. Its
aim is to spread best practice and information on preventing custody deaths.
The report also raised concerns about the number of mentally ill people in
custody, and suggested they would be better looked after in psychiatric care.
Juliet Lyon, the director of the Prison Reform Trust, agreed that mentally ill
people should receive healthcare instead of being imprisoned.
But she blamed the rise in the number of suicides in all custodial setting last
year on overcrowding.
Ms Lyons, who described the rise in self-inflicted deaths as "very
disappointing", said overcrowding was preventing prison officers from closely
monitoring vulnerable inmates.
"The prison service have been working rather well to try and reduce risk and
respond better to vulnerable people," she said.
"But the level of overcrowding now is such that a lot of those efforts have been
swept away," she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
The prison reform campaigner said that the frequent moving of vulnerable inmates
between prisons increased the likelihood that they would attempt suicide.
"If you are mentally ill or unstable or under stress, you are constantly faced
with uncertainty - staff who don't know you, you're further from home, you've
got no support systems and you feel like you are in some sort of hell," she
said.
Pauline Campbell, whose daughter Sarah died in custody, told the BBC that
prisons were being "overwhelmed" by high numbers of vulnerable people who needed
care, not punishment
"They're being used as social dustbins for people who are mentally ill, drug and
alcohol dependents, the homeless and so on," she said.
"And given that we have such a high proportion of prisoners who have psychiatric
difficulties, it is inevitable that these tragic deaths will occur unless action
is taken to prevent this happening."
The mother of the youngest child to die in custody in the UK accused the
government of doing too little to protect vulnerable inmates.
Carol Pounder's son, Adam Rickwood, was 14 when he hanged himself with his
shoelaces while on remand at the Hassockfield secure training centre in County
Durham in 2004.
The teenager had been restrained with a controversial "nose distraction
technique" which involved him being punched in the face.
She told Today: "The number of child deaths in custody is shocking. The
government is failing to provide adequate support. They do not have enough
properly qualified, fully trained prison officers in these children's
institutions.
"They have nine weeks' training ... in an adult prison, the training course is a
lot longer."
The prisons minister David Hanson said a review of the restraint of children in
custody was due to publish its findings in about six months.
He said that while the number of self-inflicted deaths had gone up, the
proportion of the prison population committing suicide was dropping. But, he
added, there was no room for complacency.
600 custody deaths in 2006, study finds, G, 21.9.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,2174115,00.html
Leader
Jailhouses rocked
Thursday August 30, 2007
The Guardian
The work is far from glamorous and brutal misconduct is not unknown among those
who carry it out. So when prison officers yesterday embarked on a wildcat strike
they were poorly placed to win the sympathy that met the Fire Brigades Union
when it took on the government in 2002. Indeed, the Prison Officers Association
(POA) received a very hostile reaction from several quarters, starting with the
high court, which did not take long to rule its action illegal. Ken Jones, the
head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, joined the fray, warning
further walkouts would pose dangers for the public. Before long, even the
inmates were joining in - chanting to the staff assembled at Cardiff prison
"you're breaking the law".
None of this, however, implies that the nine in 10 PAO members who signalled
readiness to strike in a ballot do not have a real grievance. Their claim is
that the pay for their job (which starts at just over £17,000) is not
commensurate with its fierce demands. Like firefighters, prison officers are
guardians of public safety. Yet instead of being seen as heroes, they spend
their days with captives who understandably resent them. Teachers and police
officers are familiar with the special strains that arise in working with people
who would rather be elsewhere. But jailers are unique in that all those they
deal with fall into this category. When there are eight assaults each day, it is
little wonder that the research finds that an officer's job is the most
stressful of the lot.
Adding to the misery is the sustained overcrowding that flows from the doubling
of the prison population since the early 1990s. More inmates end up in the wrong
places, and thus shunting them around and maintaining order takes precedence
over the rehabilitative work that is what retains the best of the prison staff.
Although the service prides itself on coping with the occasional crisis,
managing a near-permanent state of crisis is another matter. The effects are
seen in this year's increase in inmate suicides, in the gradual upward creep of
reoffending rates - and in staff discontent.
Even though workers in private prisons earn less than the public employees in
the PAO, in these awful circumstances the union's complaints should be
dismissed. Where in 2002 the firefighters demanded an extravagant 40% rise, the
final straw for prison officers was the move to cut the value of their mere 2.5%
rise through phasing - sending it below the rise in living costs. The right of
prison officers to strike has been curtailed, a position which the armed forces
always argue must be balanced by fair wages. Ministers, however, can with equal
rationality insist that no government can afford to cave in to pressure on
wages. Many public sector workers can claim to be a special case. Granting a
trickle of extra cash for the prison officers could provoke a deluge of other
demands.
Fortunately, at least over the longer-term, a strategy is available which could
help to reconcile justified but competing fiscal and payroll demands. Namely,
restricting the costly use of prison to those criminals that cannot be dealt
with in any other way. If the jails were no longer packed with minor offenders,
resources would be freed to rehabilitate and cut reoffending as well as to pay
staff decently. The justice secretary, Jack Straw, seems to understand the issue
better than his predecessor, but he is yet to take the action needed to get
properly to grips with it.
As for David Cameron, the ragbag of minimum sentences and other measures that he
has been advancing this week push in precisely the wrong direction. This week's
Guardian/ICM poll found that a majority no longer believe that prison works and
instead want better ways found to deal with crime. The public, then, is ahead of
politicians in recognising that the correctional system is itself in need of
correction.
Jailhouses rocked, G, 30.8.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2158697,00.html
Police
warn of prison chaos
· Warders
ignore ruling that strike is illegal
· More public sector pay rows predicted
Thursday
August 30, 2007
Guardian
Duncan Campbell
Senior police officers warned last night that the snap 12-hour strike by prison
officers which led to chaotic scenes across the country yesterday could have
serious implications for maintaining order both inside jails and on the streets.
Leaders of other public sector unions claimed that the strike could be the start
of a series of bruising clashes between the public sector and the government.
After tense discussions throughout the day the Prison Officers Association
executive relented, telling its members to return to work immediately in an
announcement just after 7pm yesterday.
But that was not before a chaotic day in which up to 900 people sentenced to
jail or remanded by courts were turned away from prisons and the government said
the action over a pay dispute could have already led to the death of an inmate.
Earlier, the Prison Service was granted an injunction to force the officers back
to work, but staff at many jails defied it. The action appeared to bring swift
results when the POA said it had been offered "meaningful talks" with the
government.
The POA chairman, Colin Moses, said last night: "The executive has decided in
the light of the offer of meaningful discussions regarding the staging of pay,
to lead our members back to work, irrespective of the threat of an injunction."
John Hancock, POA branch secretary for Wormwood Scrubs in London, told prison
officers at the jail: "You stood together today, we've won the day we feel."
Facing his first major test as justice secretary, Jack Straw condemned the
action which started unannounced at 7am. His ministry went to the high court to
argue that the union, which lost the right to strike under the Conservative
government in 1994, was breaking the law.
As the negotiations - scheduled for Friday - were announced yesterday evening
and prison officers began to return to work, Mr Straw criticised the "shotgun"
strike and said the only way to solve the matter was by negotiation across a
table.
Steve Gough, vice-chairman of the POA, said the government did not serve the
court injunction on the union and said the action was only called off because of
the offer of peace talks. "The response from our members today was
overwhelming," he said.
As the strike gripped most of the 131 prisons in England and Wales, prisoners in
Liverpool took briefly to the roof and POA members broke their strike
temporarily to return them to their cells. In Cardiff inmates taunted officers
by chanting "you're breaking the law". The fire brigade were called to
Birmingham prison to deal with two minor fires. Although officers at Long
Lartin, in Worcestershire, Bristol and Canterbury heeded the court order to
return to work, others ignored it.
Senior police officers did little to disguise their dismay with the
34,000-strong POA, which was staging the first national walkout in its 68-year
history, and warned of the dangers of further walkouts.
"It is a matter of great regret that no advance warning was given to us which
would have allowed time to better contain the risks to public safety and
security," said Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police
Officers. "If this dispute continues, there will be consequences for the police
service and the neighbourhoods they serve; chief officers will be obliged to
divert staff away from core police work. We would ask that those involved in
leading the dispute bear such consequences in mind."
In the high court, Bruce Carr, counsel for the Ministry of Justice, told Mr
Justice Ramsey that reports had been received "of one death in custody at one
establishment where the now deceased prisoner was unlocked nearly two hours
later than would have been the case if staff had been present. We don't know
whether, if staff had unlocked at the normal time, that prisoner would still be
alive." While emphasising that no "causative link" had been established between
that incident, at Acklington prison in Northumberland, and the strike, the
mention of the death in court is bound to heighten tensions.
Charles Bushell, general secretary of the Prison Governors Association, whose
members had to staff the jails yesterday, praised the prisoners for not taking
advantage of the situation. "You could say they are the one group who have
behaved impeccably," he said. As prisoners were kept locked up all day and
visits and court appearances cancelled, probation officers arriving at jails
found themselves unable to see inmates.
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of
Probation Officers, said disputes could spread to other public sector unions.
The TUC's conference in Brighton next month will debate a motion from the Public
and Commercial Services union which warns of "industrial action, if necessary"
if the effective "pay freeze" is not addressed. "There has been simmering
discontent for years," said Mr Fletcher. "There is a real chance that it will
spread beyond the prisons to other public sector unions."
Significantly, the strike, over the terms of a 2.5% pay deal, won support from
elsewhere in the labour movement. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS,
said: "Below-inflation pay awards leading to pay cuts in real terms are
completely unacceptable and is a problem that PCS members delivering vital
public services also face."
Police warn of prison chaos, G, 30.8.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,2158643,00.html
7.45pm
update
Prison
workers end strike
Wednesday
August 29, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
James Sturcke and agencies
A wildcat
strike by thousands of prison officers in England and Wales was called off
tonight after the Government offered fresh talks in a bitter row over pay.
The Prison
Officers Association said 20,000 of its members took part in the walkout from
7am which took the Government and prison authorities completely by surprise.
The Ministry of Justice obtained an injunction in the High Court against the POA
earlier today which it expected would lead to a return to work.
But most prison officers remained on strike for several hours after the court
move and looked set to continued taking action until 7am tomorrow. But the
union's executive decided tonight to end the stoppage and said fresh talks will
be held on Friday.
Defiant prison workers had earlier today rejected a high court ruling to return
to work, pledging to stay on strike until tomorrow morning.
The surprise industrial action, planned to last for 24 hours, began at 7am. The
Ministry of Justice later won a high court injunction to force strikers back to
work.
Shop steward Steve Baines told striking workers outside Liverpool prison: "I've
spoken to Steve Gough, the national vice-chair [of the Prison Officers'
Association], and he expressed the view to us: 'Tell them to shove it up their
arse, we're sitting it out.'"
Mr Gough later added to the confusion when he refused to confirm his comments to
Mr Baines and told BBC News 24 that no advice had yet been issued to union
members.
"The NEC [national executive committee] is in session," he said. "As soon as
they decide what to do, they will instruct members."
Prison officers manning picket lines said they understood the strike would
continue until 7am tomorrow, although in Bristol POA members decided to return
to work after the prison governor gave them a copy of the court order.
"We have been left with no other option than to return to work," said Paul
Moltby, the Bristol POA representative. "The judge made it quite clear that
anyone who disobeyed the court order could have their assets seized, be fined or
imprisoned."
An employment law expert, Marcus Difelice, of Brabners Chaffe Street, warned
that the POA could face severe penalties if it failed to comply with the
injunction.
"If it continues, the union leader could be hauled before the courts for
contempt," he said.
"The sanctions for this are pretty severe and could result in a prison sentence
or an unlimited fine, or a combination of both. The government could also sue
the union for damages of up to £250,000. Ignoring a court injunction can be a
very costly business."
Mr Justice Ramsey ordered a senior officer of the POA who was present at the
hearing to write to all branch leaders ordering their members back to work.
Government lawyers told the judge that 900 prisoners being sentenced today did
not have a cell to go to, the BBC reported. He was also told that one man had
died in custody two hours after he had been due to be released.
The former chief inspector of prisons, Lord Ramsbotham, warned that the
situation was "potentially explosive" because record numbers of prisoners were
being supervised by a handful of governors.
The strike, which has hit around 140 prisons, is over a below-inflation pay
award, poor conditions and low morale among POA members, a spokesman for the
organisation said.
Probation officers, lawyers and relatives were advised not to visit prisons
today as inmates were locked down in their cells, and court cases were affected
as inmates on remand were kept in cells.
"This is about the treatment given to prison officers in England and Wales," the
chairman of the POA, Colin Moses, told Sky News. "We have been given a below
inflation pay award, of 1.9%, for the second year running.
"My members are receiving below inflation pay awards when they are being asked
to look after the most violent people in society."
Mr Moses said that, with the prison population running at 81,000, his members
"believed enough is enough".
On August 16, the union said its members were willing to take action after years
of below inflation pay increases.
The justice secretary, Jack Straw, described the strike action as "deeply
regrettable and wholly unjustifiable".
"Our first concern in this situation is to protect the public," Mr Straw said.
"We have in place tried and tested contingency measures to ensure the security
of all prisons across England and Wales is maintained. We will also ensure that
prisoners receive meals and emergency medical attention.
"We will take all available steps to ensure that this strike does not impact
adversely on our primary duty to protect the public."
He insisted his ministry had been "actively trying to engage" with the POA
through talks and regular meetings.
Lord Ramsbotham, however, warned that with "such huge numbers [of inmates] and a
very limited number of staff at work you can never be confident [about
security]".
He told BBC News 24 that tensions would rise in prisons and a lack of staff
could lead to a "potentially explosive situation".
"I do not think today's action should be seen in isolation," he said. "It is
symptomatic of the problems of an overstretched and under-resourced prison
service.
"There are record numbers of prisoners, and the secretary of state announced
that budgets would be frozen for three years. That led to tension among
prisoners, which impacts on staff."
Charles Bushell, the general secretary of the Prison Governors' Association,
said strike action was widespread and that members of his organisation had been
drafted in to help out.
"If you are intending to visit any prison today, either as a probation officer,
lawyer or family member, I would advise you not to go and not to phone the
prison because the person who would normally answer the call will be protesting
outside the gates," he added.
He said his members had "considerable sympathy" with the POA in its dispute
about low pay awards and financial restrictions, although he did not believe
strike action had a place in the prison service.
The BBC reported that the 1,300 prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs, in west London,
were being guarded by eight governors.
"I have been a prison officer for 16 years. When I started there were five
officers on every landing of 100 prisoners. Now there are only two," Alan
Gaurley, the POA representative at the prison, told BBC News 24.
"The landings are huge and they are not safe. A lot of my colleagues have been
assaulted. We feel we are undervalued.
"The public is not aware, because we work behind closed doors, but as you can
see today there is a lot of depth of feeling."
Mr Gaurley said he had received a call from POA leaders at 5am informing him of
the strike.
Vans that collect prisoners on remand at Wormwood Scrubs were turning around at
the gates of the prison.
Brian Caton, the general secretary of the POA, said he believed 90% of his
members were on strike, and disputed claims that the action was illegal. "I
believe every officer has human rights, and they include the right to withdraw
their labour," he added.
The row blew up after a pay review body recommended a rise of 2.5% this year but
the government decided that should be staged, with an initial 1.5% rise followed
by another 1% six months later. Last year, wardens were awarded a 1.4% pay
increase.
Following the government decision, the POA said it was the "last straw" for its
members, warning ministers that morale among prison officers was now at "rock
bottom".
Officials said prisons were bursting at the seams and there were more than eight
assaults against staff a day.
At the POA's annual conference in May, its 28,000 members were balloted on
whether they would consider strike action to resolve the pay dispute. Eighty per
cent of those who voted were in favour of a walkout.
Under its contract with government, the union is legally obliged not to
undertake any industrial action that would disrupt the prison service.
The agreement dates to a court ruling in the early 1990s, which found prison
officers had powers and authority similar to those of the police and
subsequently could not strike. That was later enshrined in the Criminal Justice
Act 1994.
However the union, which has mounted a long-running campaign to restore trade
union rights to all its members, has given notice to withdraw from that
contract, allowing the potential to strike.
Prison workers end strike, NYT, 29.8.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,2158103,00.html
2.30pm
update
Prison
workers defy order to end strike
Wednesday
August 29, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
James Sturcke and agencies
Defiant
prison workers today rejected a high court ruling to return to work, pledging to
stay on strike until tomorrow morning.
The
surprise industrial action, planned to last for 24 hours, began at 7am. The
Ministry of Justice later won a high court injunction to force strikers back to
work.
Union official Steve Baines told workers striking outside a Liverpool prison
that he had spoken to the Prison Officers' Association executive, who he said
had "told them [the government] to shove it up their arse - we're sitting it
out".
The former chief inspector of prisons, Lord Ramsbotham, warned that the
situation was "potentially explosive" because record numbers of prisoners were
being supervised by a handful of governors.
Mr Justice Ramsey ordered a senior officer of the POA who was present at the
hearing to write to all branch leaders ordering their members back to work.
Government lawyers told the judge that 900 prisoners being sentenced today did
not have a cell to go to, the BBC reported. He was also told one man had died in
custody two hours after he had been due to be released.
The strike, which has hit around 140 prisons, is over a below inflation pay
award, poor conditions and low morale among POA members, a spokesman for the
organisation said.
Probation officers, lawyers and relatives were advised not to visit prisons
today as inmates were locked down in their cells, and court cases were affected
as inmates on remand were kept in cells.
"This is about the treatment given to prison officers in England and Wales," the
chairman of the POA, Colin Moses, told Sky News. "We have been given a below
inflation pay award, of 1.9%, for the second year running.
"My members are receiving below inflation pay awards when they are being asked
to look after the most violent people in society."
Mr Moses said that, with the prison population running at 81,000, his members
"believed enough is enough".
On August 16, the union said its members were willing to take action after years
of below inflation pay increases.
The justice secretary, Jack Straw, described the strike action as "deeply
regrettable and wholly unjustifiable".
"Our first concern in this situation is to protect the public," Mr Straw said.
"We have in place tried and tested contingency measures to ensure the security
of all prisons across England and Wales is maintained. We will also ensure that
prisoners receive meals and emergency medical attention.
"We will take all available steps to ensure that this strike does not impact
adversely on our primary duty to protect the public."
He insisted his ministry had been "actively trying to engage" with the POA
through talks and regular meetings.
Lord Ramsbotham, however, warned that with "such huge numbers [of inmates] and a
very limited number of staff at work you can never be confident [about
security]".
He told BBC News 24 that tensions would rise in prisons and a lack of staff
could lead to a "potentially explosive situation".
"I do not think today's action should be seen in isolation," he said. "It is
symptomatic of the problems of an overstretched and under-resourced prison
service.
"There are record numbers of prisoners, and the secretary of state announced
that budgets would be frozen for three years. That led to tension among
prisoners, which impacts on staff."
Charles Bushell, the general secretary of the Prison Governors' Association,
said strike action was widespread and members of his organisation had been
drafted in to help out.
"If you are intending to visit any prison today, either as a probation officer,
lawyer or family member, I would advise you not to go and not to phone the
prison because the person who would normally answer the call will be protesting
outside the gates," he added.
He said his members had "considerable sympathy" with the POA in its dispute
about low pay awards and financial restrictions, although he did not believe
strike action had a place in the prison service.
The BBC reported that the 1,300 prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs, in west London,
were being guarded by eight governors.
"I have been a prison officer for 16 years. When I started there were five
officers on every landing of 100 prisoners. Now there are only two," Alan
Gaurley, the POA representative at the prison, told BBC News 24.
"The landings are huge and they are not safe. A lot of my colleagues have been
assaulted. We feel we are undervalued.
"The public is not aware, because we work behind closed doors, but as you can
see today there is a lot of depth of feeling."
Mr Gaurley said he had received a call from POA leaders at 5am informing him of
the strike.
Vans that collect prisoners on remand at Wormwood Scrubs were turning around at
the gates of the prison.
Brian Caton, the general secretary of the POA, said he believed 90% of his
members were on strike, and disputed claims that the action was illegal. "I
believe every officer has human rights, and they include the right to withdraw
their labour," he added.
The row blew up after a pay review body recommended a rise of 2.5% this year but
the government decided that should be staged, with an initial 1.5% rise followed
by another 1% six months later. Last year, wardens were awarded a 1.4% pay
increase.
Following the government decision, the POA said it was the "last straw" for its
members, warning ministers that morale among prison officers was now at "rock
bottom".
Officials said prisons were bursting at the seams and there were more than eight
assaults against staff a day.
At the POA's annual conference in May, its 28,000 members were balloted on
whether they would consider strike action to resolve the pay dispute. Eighty per
cent of those who voted were in favour of a walkout.
Under its contract with government, the union is legally obliged not to
undertake any industrial action that would disrupt the prison service.
The agreement dates to a court ruling in the early 1990s, which found prison
officers had powers and authority similar to those of the police and
subsequently could not strike. That was later enshrined in the Criminal Justice
Act 1994.
However the union, which has mounted a long-running campaign to restore trade
union rights to all its members, has given notice to withdraw from that
contract, allowing the potential to strike.
Prison workers defy order to end strike, G, 29.8.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,2158103,00.html
There's
no justice in a 'jugging'
Prisoners
who attack other inmates
may see themselves as heroes,
but Erwin James regards them
as deluded and cowardly
Thursday
July 26, 2007
SocietyGuardian.co.uk
So-called
"prison justice" is cruel, brutal and, as the recent assault on convicted "dirty
bomb terrorist" Dhiren Barot demonstrated, cowardly.
Barot was
reportedly scalded by a fellow prisoner in HMP Frankland, Durham, presumably
because of the "unacceptable" nature of his crime. Such an act, known on the
landings as a "jugging," is a classic prisoner-on-prisoner attack and is the
easiest choice of violent action for the least discerning attacker.
Prison-issue plastic jugs hold about a litre of liquid. A quick fill from the
landing boiling water dispenser (there to facilitate the making of hot drinks)
and the weapon is loaded. To make it more effective, sugar can be added. This
ensures that the scalding liquid will stick and effect longer-lasting damage.
Typically, a jugging is mounted from behind, often while prisoners are queuing
for meals, although a better venue for the more craven used to be the landing
toilet recess before the introduction of integral sanitation.
Waiting until the target was sitting with trousers around ankles and head bowed
below the half door straining for privacy, as well as for relief, provided the
perfect opportunity for the perfectly gutless to wreak agony and injury. With no
upfront confrontation and little chance of any defensive retaliation, a swift
swing and tip of the jug and "justice," along with a perverted sense of
satisfaction could be achieved.
But who are these individuals who take it upon themselves to inflict pain on
fellow prisoners? And on whose behalf is this extra punishment delivered? The
answers lie in the prison hierarchy, the most insidious product of the primitive
prison culture.
It used to be that armed robbers, especially those who ambushed security vans,
were the elite residents on the prison wing. Sex offenders, particularly those
whose crimes were against children, were at the bottom of the scale.
During the past 15 years or so, however, ever since hard drugs began to infect
and undermine prison regimes, major drug dealers have taken over as the wing
kingpins.
But while sex offenders still inhabit the lower ranks of the pecking order, it
appears that they may have been joined by those convicted of bombings and bomb
plots, people such as Barot, who was convicted last year of plotting to blow up
New York.
Taking a swipe at those on the lowest echelons of the hierarchy has
traditionally been seen as a legitimate response by the "ordinary decent
criminal" types to crimes that society in general finds particularly abhorrent.
It is a view reinforced by gleeful tabloid reporting of such incidents whenever
they happen (examples include the face slashing of mass killer Dennis Nilsen and
the blinding with a pen of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper).
Perpetrators cite society's contempt to justify their actions - the absurdity is
often lost or conveniently overlooked. They are not, of course, the paragons of
virtue, in the main being people also convicted of serious crimes and who
invariably fail to give their victims a chance to fight back. And anyway, once a
person has been convicted and sentenced to a period in prison, for whatever
crime, nobody but nobody serving time alongside that person has any right to
take it upon themselves to inflict further punishment, whether it be a jugging,
a stabbing or a slashing.
The deluded who do so are no heroes, neither are they champions of decent
values. At best, they are misguided pathetic characters perhaps corrupted by the
prison culture. At worst, they are fearful, timorous cowards with not a chance
of ever achieving any real hope of redemption for their own sins.
Despite the horrific nature of Barot's crimes and those of other high-profile
offenders who commit the most distasteful crimes, nobody outside should take any
comfort from such incidents. And the prison system needs to look hard at ways of
undermining the negative prison culture that breeds the twisted logic that leads
to their undertaking.
There's no justice in a 'jugging', G, 26.7.2007,
http://society.guardian.co.uk/lifeoutside/story/0,,2134369,00.html
Fear of
Islamist recruiting in jails
· Special
branch unit keeps watch on extremism
· Tube plotter and shoe bomber 'talent-scouted'
Saturday
July 14, 2007
Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
As the four July 21 bomb plotters started their 40-year minimum sentences this
week, a group of police special branch officers - the foot soldiers of the
security services - based at Prison Service headquarters were quietly working to
ensure that the failed bombers do not inspire a new generation of violent
jihadists.
The kingpin
or "emir" of the July 21 attacks, Mukhtar Said Ibrahim, had emerged from Feltham
young offender institution in September 1998 at the age of 20 having rejected
crime in favour of radical Islam, as had Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, before
him.
A year ago prison officers voiced concerns that there was no official strategy
in place to tackle al-Qaida operatives radicalising and recruiting alienated
ethnic minority prisoners as well as young Muslims inside Britain's jails.
But as the number of people awaiting trial for terrorist offences reaches the
100 mark and prison governors contemplate a growing number of convicted
prisoners facing long sentences on terror-related charges, the question of
preventing radicalisation behind bars is being taken far more seriously.
Many of the operatives are described as "dangerous and highly capable"
individuals who have dedicated their lives to radicalising younger and more
vulnerable people in a process known as "talent-scouting". The special branch
unit is stepping up its efforts to ensure there is a constant flow of
intelligence from inside Britain's high security prisons to MI5 and to the local
police in the communities the prisoners remain in contact with. A serious effort
is going on to improve their knowledge of the radicalisation of prisoners.
A Prison Service spokesman confirmed that they were working to improve their
awareness and understanding of radicalisation: "As numbers of extremists held in
prison increase, staff are becoming more alert to the risks of radicalisation.
We are never complacent and prison staff are encouraged to identify and report
such activities."
Measures include security service vetting checks on the growing number of imams
who provide religious and pastoral care in jails. A radical imam played a key
role in the experiences of Ibrahim and Reid while they were in Feltham. At the
same time the prison authorities are spending thousands of pounds translating
all texts, including copies of the Qur'an, from Arabic to English to ensure they
do not contain hidden messages. All the 36 imams working in prisons have to
speak English and the Prison Service says that they are officially supported to
ensure they are confident in confronting concerns about radicalisation.
The bill for holding the 100 suspects on remand awaiting trial - mainly in
Belmarsh high security prison in London - is known to have reached £3m. The
National Offender Management Service, which is responsible for prisons and
probation, has told ministers that figure is likely to double in this financial
year.
As well as the 100 awaiting trial, the officially published figures show that
there are a further 40 who have been convicted of terrorist offences between
9/11 and the start of 2007 and another 180 serving sentences for
terrorist-related offences.
The new justice secretary, Jack Straw, who visited Belmarsh this week, said that
whatever happened with the overcrowding crisis the high security prisons in
England would be able to "cope fully and adequately" with all terrorist
suspects. At Belmarsh, Mr Straw toured the "prison within a prison" special
secure unit, which currently holds 33 inmates, most awaiting trial, and seven
recently convicted of terrorist offences.
Most of those convicted are in top security "dispersal" jails at Woodhill in
Milton Keynes, Frankland, near Durham, Full Sutton, near York, and Long Lartin
in Worcestershire. The radical preacher Abu Hamza is believed to have recently
been moved to Long Lartin.
Although some of those convicted are in special units, many are held on normal
category A wings alongside other inmates within the high security jails. The
Home Office has always preferred to disperse its top security prisoners, for
whom escape should be impossible.
Fear of Islamist recruiting in jails, G, 14.7.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2126207,00.html
Inmates
go free to ease jail crisis
· 1,200
released early under emergency package
· Prison population again tops 81,000 record
Saturday
June 30, 2007
Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Up to 1,200
"non-dangerous" offenders walked out of prison up to 18 days early yesterday as
the government's emergency package to ease the jails crisis was put into effect.
The release
of so many prisoners on end of custody licences came not a moment too soon for
the governors of the 140 prisons in England and Wales, who were struggling to
cope this week with a prison population that had again topped a record 81,000. A
further 400 are expected to be released early on Monday.
The urgency of the situation was underlined last night by the release of
official figures showing jail numbers had risen by a further 90 in the last
week, with 81,038 held in custody yesterday, including 351 prisoners locked in
emergency police cells. The official capacity of the prison estate in England
and Wales is just 81,442, including 400 police cells.
The new justice secretary, Jack Straw, yesterday said that about 1,000 offenders
a month who are serving sentences of four years or less would be released 18
days early under the scheme: "This will carry on until we do get stability in
the prison population," he said.
Mr Straw defended the scheme, saying that those who left prison yesterday had
been carefully selected by prison governors and those who were serving more than
12 months would be under the supervision of a probation officer. Others would be
recalled if they breach their licences.
He defended the payment of a discharge grant of £172 to each prisoner to cover
subsistence payments in lieu of benefits, which they cannot claim until the end
of their sentence. Families and friends waited to greet the released offenders
outside prison gates across England and Wales yesterday.
At Walton prison, Liverpool, which was criticised by the chief inspector of
prisons as severely overcrowded with its full-capacity population of 1,335,
about 70 offenders were released. At HMP Leeds in Armley a 27-year-old man who
walked free three days early after serving eight weeks for driving offences
said: "It's all right for us. I'm happy." He said he was glad to be out as there
were "way too many people in there." Another man nearby who did not want to be
named said he was waiting for his father: "He's only been in prison for two
weeks. It's ridiculous, but I'm well happy - we're going out for a drink
tonight."
The end of custody licence scheme is part of a wider package of emergency
measures, including an accelerated jail building programme, to ease the prison
crisis. The daily prison population has risen from 66,000 in 2001 to more than
81,000.
A radical extension in the use of bail hostels is expected to reduce prison
numbers by a further 1,000. Ministers have, however, made clear they believe it
will be necessary to keep Operation Safeguard - housing prisoners in police and
court cells - going until the end of the year.
Juliet Lyon, of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "The sight of 1,000 people
leaving prison early, ill-prepared for life outside, must prompt a new team of
justice ministers to put aside panic measures and make sensible plans for the
future."
Paul Cavadino of Nacro, the ex-offenders' charity, welcomed the move, saying it
was the only immediately available way of relieving the prison population
crisis.
Inmates go free to ease jail crisis, G, 30.6.2007,
http://society.guardian.co.uk/crimeandpunishment/story/0,,2115459,00.html
Pressure
on Falconer
as prison population
hits all-time high
· Court
cells could be full if too many fail to get bail
· Jail system could implode in two weeks, says union
Wednesday
May 30, 2007
Guardian
Clare Dyer, legal editor
The number
of prisoners in England and Wales hit an all-time high of 80,846 yesterday,
raising fears that the court service could run out of cell space this week if
too few remand prisoners succeed in getting bail. The record numbers saw 450
prisoners housed in police and court cells made available for overspill.
At one
point yesterday, prison governors estimated that every court cell on standby
would be full by tonight, but later they said they expected enough remand
prisoners to get bail to leave a few spaces available.
The latest figure means that fewer than 300 spaces are free to house prisoners,
even allowing for the 400 police cells being used for emergency occupation under
Operation Safeguard.
Only 100 court cells have been made available in London and three other
locations. Cells in courts are expensive and difficult to staff and their
emergency use for prison overspill makes it hard for prisoners to be brought to
court for trials.
The need to get on with court cases means that prisoners in court cells are
"hot-celling" with those in prisons, taking their space in prison while the
jailed inmate goes to court.
The problem has been exacerbated by the bank holiday, with some probation
officers taking an extra day off yesterday and unable to take part in bail
applications for people remanded in custody over the weekend.
The crisis is expected to worsen when the smoking ban comes in on July 1, when
options to double up in cells will be limited by a new right for non-smoking
prisoners to refuse to share a cell with a smoker.
Ministers are pushing for more doubling up of inmates but Phil Wheatley,
director general of the prison service, has made it clear that there are limits
to the number of places that can be found. "When we are full, we are full," he
has said.
Charles Bushell, general secretary of the Prison Governors Association, said
there were "large and increasing numbers" of prisoners who could never be locked
up with anybody else because they were dangerous or predatory.
Lord Falconer, the justice secretary, announced plans for legislation aimed at
reducing the prison population when the new Ministry of Justice took over
responsibility for prisons from the Home Office this month. But the latest
record increase will bring more pressure on him to come up with a short-term
solution.
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo, the probation officers'
union, said: "If the current rate continues, within a fortnight the whole system
will implode.
"The courts won't be able to function because there will be nowhere to hold
prisoners and the police will be in difficulty because there will be nowhere to
hold people they arrest on that day. So ministers will have to take short-term
action."
He said the most obvious step to ease the crisis would be to permit the 1,500 to
2,000 prisoners who are allowed out of prison daily as a step to rehabilitation,
to stay out overnight.
"The minister could argue that if these people are safe enough to be allowed out
during the day and public safety isn't compromised, the same rule would apply to
letting them out at night," he added.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said: "A new capacity-building
programme which will deliver 8,000 new prison places by 2012 was announced in
July 2006.
"This comes on top of already planned expansions at existing prisons which will
continue and deliver around 700 places during 2007.
"The National Offender Management Service is closely monitoring the prison
population and continues to investigate options for providing further increases
in capacity."
The shadow home secretary, David Davis, said: "The government have been warned
about this impending crisis in our prisons for years. They have recklessly
ignored both our advice and their own projections of prison overcrowding.
"Overcrowding means offenders are not sent to prison when they should be, prison
rehab and skills courses are disrupted and prisoners are let out early.
Ultimately, it is the public who pay the price."
Pressure on Falconer as prison population hits all-time
high, G, 30.5.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,2090955,00.html
Cherie's parting shot
Mrs Blair speaks out
against pregnant women sent to jail
Published: 13 May 2007
The Independent on Sunday
By Marie Woolf, Political Editor
Cherie Blair last night made her first foray into British politics since her
husband announced he was standing down as Prime Minister by attacking the
Government for sending pregnant women to jail.
In what will be interpreted as Mrs Blair's first attempt to stake out her own
political credo even before the couple leave Downing Street, the human-rights
lawyer has warned that sending mothers to prison increases the risk of their
children turning to criminality later in life.
As new government figures showed that about 100 babies a year are born to
mothers behind bars, Mrs Blair called for "alternative sentences" for all except
the most serious women criminals. Speaking exclusively to The Independent on
Sunday, Mrs Blair warned that society will pay the price of removing children
from their mothers' care while they are in jail.
Stating that action should be taken so "today's sons and daughters of prisoners
don't end up tomorrow's offenders", Mrs Blair's intervention is a sign that,
liberated from the restrictions of office, she will become increasingly vocal on
issues that concern her when she leaves Downing Street.
Her comments also offer a fascinating glimpse into what friends say are her own
deeply rooted political views, and throw into stark relief the expected contrast
between Mrs Blair's role in Downing Street and that of her successor, Sarah
Brown.
Signalling that the country will be governed "in a different way from now on",
Mr Brown yesterday set out his own vision for his premiership, stating that
there will be an end to the politics of celebrity.
But Mrs Blair, criticised for her influence over her husband during his 10
years' in office, made clear yesterday that she was now prepared to campaign
vigorously on policy issues.
In a direct attack on the Home Office, Mrs Blair stated that it is right that
"we consider using alternative sentences for mothers. It is not a soft option to
make an offender face up to what she has done, to repay directly to her victim
or do enforced community work. Nor is it a soft option to be tagged
electronically".
Mrs Blair's intervention came as other human-rights lawyers renewed calls for a
review of how pregnant women in prison are treated. Although women giving birth
are no longer shackled, some prisoners, deemed a security risk, are handcuffed
to a guard in the hospital waiting room, while in the early stages of labour and
on the way to and from hospital.
Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws, the Labour peer and human-rights lawyer, called
for criminal courts to compile a report on the effect of jailing the primary
carer, usually a woman, on their children before they are sentenced. She has
warned that the children of women in prison, most of whom are convicted of
shoplifting offences or fraud, are being punished, despite committing no
offence.
About 80 babies are currently cared for by their mothers in prison
mother-and-baby units, but Lady Kennedy said work should be done to stop babies
being born in prison at all.
"While the mother and baby units in the British prison system try to create some
semblance of normality, the conditions are hardly favourable for new arrivals
into our world. Babies just should not be in prison if it can be at all
avoided," she said.
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said sending mothers to jail
would contribute to later criminality in children. "Crime doesn't have to run in
families but to break the cycle you do need to take account of the impact of
imprisonment on those children separated from their mums, or in a few cases lone
fathers," she said.
Cherie's parting shot,
IoS, 13.5.2007,
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2536854.ece
3,000 'freed early'
to ease prison crowding
Lord Chancellor sees no alternative
after prisoner numbers top 80,000
Sunday May 6, 2007
The Observer
Jamie Doward, home affairs editor
The government is considering plans for the early release of up to 3,000
prisoners, after being told by senior members of the judiciary and Prison
Service that there is no more room in Britain's overflowing jails. The news is
likely to prompt fresh criticism that ministers failed to anticipate the
overcrowding crisis.
A decision to release thousands of prisoners before they have completed their
sentences is expected to be announced after responsibility for prisons is
transferred from the Home Office to the new Ministry of Justice on Wednesday.
The Home Secretary, John Reid, has refused to release prisoners early. Both the
Home Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs have consistently
denied that the government has drawn up plans for such a move.
But Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, who is to head the Ministry of Justice,
now accepts there is no alternative.
Falconer is understood to have come to this conclusion two weeks ago after
hosting a dinner attended by Lord
Phillips, the Lord Chief Justice, Judge Igor Judge, president of the Queen's
Bench division and senior representatives from the Association of Chief Police
Officers and the Prison Service. Falconer was told that early release was not a
question of 'if but when', according to a senior Whitehall source.
During the past three weeks, the prison population has risen by 500 and is now
close to 80,500. In addition, around 300 prisoners are being held in police and
court cells. Falconer has been warned that all available space in jails, police
cells and courts will be taken within weeks.
Last night penal experts accused the government of a kneejerk reaction that
would do little to solve future problems.
'The continuing overcrowding crisis means the government faces a real choice,'
said Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust. 'They can either use
early release as a pressure valve, buying time to build a few more prisons,
crowded as soon as built, or they can get to grips with the root causes of
needless overcrowding and stop sending mentally ill people, petty offenders,
addicts in need of treatment to prison.'
It is likely the government will announce the move as an extension of the
'temporary licence scheme', which means probation staff will be ordered to
monitor those released early.
The most likely option is that the prisoners will be released two to three weeks
before the end of their sentence. Normally around 1,700 prisoners are released
each week but by extending the temporary licence scheme, around 3,000 will be
released.
There has been no official communication from the government to the Prison
Service indicating that early release of non-violent offenders is being planned.
But staff working in the prison and probation service are expected to be ordered
to sift their prisoner caseloads to ensure that no dangerous offenders are
released early under the scheme within days of the Ministry of Justice coming
into being.
Releasing prisoners early under licence will prompt anger from probation staff
charged with supervising them. 'Over the last few years the government has
failed to deal with the looming prison crisis,' said Harry Fletcher, assistant
general secretary of Napo, the probation officers' union. 'Successive
predictions produced by statisticians in the Home Office have indicated that the
prison population would surge past 80,000 by 2007. Despite the warnings, the
government has not commissioned further prison places, changed the law so that
fewer people go to prison or provided adequate resources for probation.'
Last week Phillips gave a clear indication that the move was imminent. In a
speech he warned: 'The prisons are full and the predictions are that the rate of
prison sentencing is bound to outstrip the capacity of the prisons, despite the
plan to provide another 8,000 prison places.' He said that Falconer could not
simply instruct judges to go light on sentencing as 'that would be an
inappropriate attempt to interfere with judicial independence'.
3,000 'freed early' to ease prison crowding,
O, 6.5.2007,
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2073545,00.html
Special investigation
Bribery and drugs exposed
at private jail
Undercover reporter offered £1,500 by inmates
Monday April 16, 2007
Guardian
Eric Allison and Duncan Campbell
An investigation by an undercover reporter working as a prison officer has
exposed conditions in a private jail where inmates have easy access to drugs and
mobile phones and subject overstretched staff to intimidation if they are too
diligent in their work.
The investigation into Rye Hill prison, Warwickshire, has unearthed a
catalogue of failings at the jail which has already been strongly criticised
over the murder of one inmate and the "avoidable" suicides of vulnerable
inmates.
During the five-month investigation by Guardian Films and BBC's Panorama, the
reporter, a former soldier, worked as a custody officer on some of the most
volatile wings in the prison run by Global Solutions Ltd (GSL). He was asked by
inmates to bring drugs into the category B high-security prison and assured that
his "fee" of £1,500 would be paid into his bank account via Western Union, a
practice an inmate claimed had been used before.
Last night, Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said the
investigation called into question the role of private prisons at a time when
half of the new 8,000 prison places promised by the government are expected to
be privately run. "These revelations are guaranteed to fuel concern about the
long-term effect of privatising our prisons, at a time when the government is
keen to push greater private sector participation in the probation service as
well."
In one clip from the film, to be shown tonight, a young female custody officer
is threatened with violence by an inmate. The woman, who had angered prisoners
because of her thorough approach to her work, is advised to "back off" by a
senior colleague.
Another prisoner told the programme that staff considered too strict were
attacked by prisoners, who were paid with drugs by fellow inmates to assault
them. Newly-qualified staff, operating alone or in pairs are depicted trying to
control upwards of 70 prisoners on a wing while they are unlocked and on free
association.
After being given an outline of the film and shown some undercover footage, John
Bates, director of corporate communications for GSL, said 47 mobile phones had
been recovered inside the jail already this year "which would tend to suggest
that there is a very prevalent problem."
He said the prison was "progressing well" and called staff training extremely
thorough. But Mr Bates said it was "completely unacceptable" that prisoners were
attempting to "groom" officers to bring in drugs. Of the undercover reporter, he
said: "He failed his colleagues and he put himself at risk." He added: "I don't
think that you quite understand how difficult and complex running a prison is."
Despite two damning reports on Rye Hill by the chief inspector of prisons, GSL
are the main providers of private prison places in England and Wales and
considered likely to win the government contract to provide a further 4,000
places.
Conditions in the jail were highlighted last month at Northampton crown court
when the prison was criticised after the collapse of a manslaughter trial over
the death in 2005 of Michael Bailey, a prisoner on suicide watch. Four officers
were cleared in connection with the death and the judge described it as an
"avoidable tragedy".
Fewer than three weeks after Michael Bailey died, another inmate, Wayne Reid,
was stabbed to death in his cell - two inmates have been convicted of his
murder.
Bribery and drugs
exposed at private jail, G, 16.4.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,2058097,00.html
Drugs, bribe offers, staff in fear:
life at Rye Hill jail
·
Undercover reporter was offered cash for cannabis
· Private prison criticised in inspector's reports
Monday
April 16, 2007
Guardian
Eric Allison, prisons correspondent
Alone with
an inmate on a wing of a private jail, an undercover reporter in his first weeks
on duty as a prison officer is given a very surprising offer. The prisoner
leaves him in no doubt that he is in a position to pay him double his normal
weekly wage if he will act as a drugs courier.
"When
you're ready, let me know," the prisoner tells the reporter, working for the
Guardian and Panorama, at Rye Hill prison. "I'll start with a tester first, so
give you five ton [£500] to bring a bar of weed if you just let me know, and
then once we both know it's right, we'll go to the 15-ton mark."
The reporter is also told: "A cameraphone goes for £500. A normal phone, like -
no camera - goes for £250."
If staff in the jail do not cooperate or appear too strict in their treatment of
inmates, they can face violence themselves. A former Rye Hill inmate said: "I've
witnessed inmates being paid drugs to go and assault a member of staff just to
get that member of staff off the wing ... You know, if a member of staff was
doing their job properly, inmates didn't like that."
A woman who had recently joined and was being diligent about enforcing the rules
soon became aware that she was under threat of assault or worse.
"I'm feeling today they're going to kill me," she says in the film, which will
be shown tonight on Panorama.
During the five-month investigation, the undercover reporter, who has chosen to
remain anonymous, underwent the 13-week prison officers' training course and was
soon on some of the most dangerous wings in the prison. While he was still a
trainee - and so not equipped with either keys or shortwave radio - he found
himself alone on a wing full of inmates.
"There's shortages of staff everywhere," says one officer in the film. "It's
just people ringing in sick ... and it was worse yesterday."
The prison, near Coventry, is run by GSL - formerly Group 4. It has been sharply
criticised in two recent reports by Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons.
She tells the programme: "We wrote to ministers, and I asked that urgent action
should be taken - and we would not have done that except for the fact that we
felt the situation at Rye Hill was extremely volatile and prisoners felt it was
volatile."
In May last year, a custody officer found prisoner Oleksi Baronovsky, 33, a
known suicide risk, in his cell, "covered in blood, from the window to the
door". It emerged that nobody had entered the cell for 15 hours. Baronovsky died
17 days later.
In a letter to Ms Owers, Jerry Petherick, in charge of GSL's offender management
and immigration services, said: "Clearly his treatment was not of the standard
that either GSL or I expect and that is a matter of sincere regret."
It took GSL six months to inform the Baronovsky family that their relative was
dead. His father and sister live in Odessa, Ukraine, and according to GSL they
were hard to trace - but it took the Guardian and Panorama 10 minutes to reach
them, using a Ukrainian phone book.
After Baronovsky's death, the prison received three letters from his relatives,
written in the belief that he was still alive and bearing the family's home
address.
John Bates, GSL's corporate communications director, said: "Mr Baronovsky had
served in a number of prisons. When his file came to us, when we asked for
next-of-kin details, he declined to give them to us. That's not an unusual thing
for prisoners to do. But of course it means that in very tragic circumstances we
are unable to pass the very tragic news to the family and relatives."
A BBC documentary last year showed GSL staff at Oakington immigration detention
centre shouting racial abuse at terrified inmates. GSL suspended 15 employees at
the centre after the programme. Last year the Guardian revealed GSL topped the
table of complaints of misconduct from asylum seekers and their lawyers, with
30% of all complaints made.
· Life Behind Bars, a prison investigation by GuardianFilms for Panorama, is
on BBC1 tonight at 8.30pm
Drugs, bribe offers, staff in fear: life at Rye Hill jail,
G, 16.4.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,2057992,00.html
'Tactics backfiring'
as jails try to curb radical Islam
Friday April 13, 2007
Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
The Prison Service's attempts to curb the growth of radical Islam
in jails by restricting communal prayers and reading of the Qur'an during work
breaks are exacerbating the problem, according to the first in-depth study of
Muslim prisoners.
The research, based on interviews with 170 current and former
Muslim prisoners, also reveals that bans on access to certain TV programmes and
newspapers in high-security prisons have also backfired.
The four-year research project by Aberdeen University anthropologist Gabriele
Marranci also finds that a small minority of former young Muslim offenders are
vulnerable to recruitment by militant organisations as a result of their prison
experiences. He says that individual members of Islamist militant organisations
have tried to "talent scout" young Muslim ex-prisoners without disclosing their
affiliations.
He also voices "extreme concern" that some had told him they had converted their
group and formed an Islamist gang, although most Muslim former prisoners were
uninterested or did not want to become involved. But the research challenges
media claims that Muslim inmates have been radicalised by imams.
"I found no evidence to suggest that the Muslim chaplains are behaving or
preaching in a way that facilitates radicalisation," said Dr Marranci. "On the
contrary, my findings suggest that they are extremely important in preventing
dangerous forms of extremism. However, the distrust that they face, both
internally and externally, is jeopardising their important function."
The research shows that Muslim prisoners were subject to stricter surveillance
than other inmates, especially when they adopted religious symbols such as
beards, veils and caps: "Growing a beard is, in almost all establishments I
visited, interpreted as 'radicalisation' of the individual," said Dr Marranci, a
lecturer in the anthropology of religion.
The study, which interviewed prisoners in England, Scotland and Wales, also
claims that security policies in prisons, including restricting prayers in a
communal space or reading the Qur'an during work breaks, are exacerbating rather
than suppressing radicalisation.
He warns that the continuing atmosphere of suspicion surrounding Muslim
prisoners increases a sense of frustration and depression which a strong view of
Islam can help to overcome.
"The respective prison services have tried to do something to address the issue
of radicalisation but they're heading in the wrong direction. This is largely
because the measures they have put in place have been fuelled by attempts to
exempt themselves from negative media coverage and criticism." He said that far
from tackling the spread of radical Islam, Prison Service efforts were
facilitating "essentialist views of Islam", which was not to be confused with
extremism.
The Prison Service in England and Wales said last night that governors were
becoming increasingly aware of the risks of radicalisation and admitted that
there were a "very few circumstances" where security considerations, including
supervision problems, had led to communal prayer meetings being limited.
"The Prison Service tries extremely hard to ensure that wherever possible access
to true religious material or sermons is unrestricted," said a spokeswoman.
Prisoners were allowed to pray individually at the times required by their
faith.
'Tactics backfiring' as
jails try to curb radical Islam, G, 13.4.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,2056215,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704
Governors call for fewer jailings,
not more jails
·
Open-ended sentences blamed for overcrowding
· Trivial breaches of parole see offenders recalled
Tuesday
April 10, 2007
Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Prison
governors have delivered an urgent warning to ministers that building new jails
will not solve the criminal justice crisis and that too many minor offenders
with mental health and alcohol problems are being locked up.
The Prison
Governors' Association - whose members face the daily challenge of managing the
record 80,000 jail population in England and Wales - has warned that a
substantial overuse of new "indeterminate" sentences is creating chaos, and that
inflexible "breach" procedures that see released offenders "whisked back into
custody" for being late for appointments is driving prison numbers up.
The home secretary, John Reid, has responded to the crisis by ruling out any
extension of early release programmes and highlighting the government's plans to
provide 10,000 more prison places, including 700 by the end of this year.
A three-month scheme gets under way this weekend to move low-risk offenders into
open prisons for the final 28 days of their sentences, to use the last 500
spaces in the prison system. Prison numbers reached 80,309 at the start of the
weekend, including 388 people locked up in emergency police cells and six held
overnight in court cells.
A parallel crisis in immigration detention centres means some foreign national
prisoners facing deportation are also to be moved back to open prisons. The Home
Office is hoping the open prison move, described by some as the last throw of
the dice, will contain the situation until the new Justice Ministry takes charge
of prisons on May 9.
But in evidence to the influential Commons home affairs committee, Paul Tidball,
the PGA president, says: "The prison population need be nowhere near as high as
it is now ... many thousands of offenders are in prison inappropriately now ...
imprisonment is an expensive option and the American experience has shown that
as prison costs spiral the budgets of other public services will suffer."
Mr Tidball said a substantial majority of people in prison had significant
mental health, drug and alcohol abuse problems and many had committed only minor
offences. More treatment and support services in the community were needed to
convince the courts that non-custodial sentences for them were viable, he said.
The prison governors complain that breach procedures for released prisoners are
part of the problem: "This means that people are being automatically whisked
into custody because of a non-show or a couple of late appearances for
appointments. It is not realistic or constructive and is making its own
contribution to the steep increase in the prison population. The decision to
breach should be a judicial one, and certainly not one in the hands of
risk-averse offender managers ruled by reoffending targets."
The prison governors are also alarmed that the new "indeterminate sentence" -
under which no release date is set by the court - is being "substantially
overused". Latest figures show there are 8,759 prisoners serving such sentences
- an increase of 31% in the last year alone. Mr Tidball said too often the
courts were choosing to leave fixing a release date to the parole board later
because it was the "lowest-risk option".
The sentence was supposed to be reserved for those posing a high risk to the
public but 20% were only medium-risk offenders, and in many cases were being
sentenced without proper risk assessment, such as a psychiatric report.
Mr Tidball said the overall result was the buck being passed to prisons whose
offender behaviour programmes were so overwhelmed that nothing was being done
until well after the recommended "tariff", when a release date had been passed.
The governors' concerns are reinforced by the fact that the parole board has
asked the Home Office for more resources to cope with the sharp increase in
indeterminately sentenced prisoners.
Governors call for fewer jailings, not more jails, G,
10.4.2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,,2053350,00.html
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