Prisons teeter on the edge of disaster – inside time and inside information

The prison system is “teetering on the brink of disaster”, with prisoners being held in crumbling buildings overrun with drugs and violence, the Prisons Secretary has warned.

Lord Timpson (pictured) gave his scathing assessment of prisons in England and Wales in a speech at the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA) annual conference in Nottingham last week.

He blamed the Conservatives for the capacity crisis that forced Labor to order the early release of prisoners immediately after coming to power in July. nothing short of a shame. We had no choice but to introduce emergency measures in the first few days of this new government.”

Highlighting the problems on the estate, he told governors: “Our overcrowded prisons are breeding violence – endangering the safety of everyone, staff and prisoners alike. Staff shortages – and a lack of experienced staff – increase your ability to run the kind of regimes you want to run. When so many of your prisons are dilapidated and in dire need of repair.”

On the drug problem, he said: “Firstly, we must prevent drugs from entering prisons. We can hardly expect prisoners to kick the habit if our prisons are a candy store for drugs.

‘We know what you are dealing with. Not least the increasing use of drones to smuggle drugs – and the phones that power the illicit market – over your walls. And the increasing threat of synthetic opioids. We must adapt quickly if we want to protect our staff and our prisoners.”

James Timpson was chief executive of his family retail group Timpson, with a policy of employing ex-convicts, before being appointed minister with a seat in the House of Lords by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in July. He has previously said that two-thirds of prisoners should not be in custody.

He told the conference that Labour’s promised review of sentencing policy was about to get underway, saying: “We will undertake a review of sentencing with a focus on how it both protects the public and reduces recidivism. We will soon be able to share the mandate and announce its chairman.”

Prison reform advocates hope the overhaul will reverse the decade’s long trend of inflation in sentence lengths. Reports have suggested it could be led by David Gauke, the Conservatives’ former justice secretary, or Lord Blunkett, Labour’s former home secretary.

In his speech, Lord Timpson suggested he wanted prison governors to stay in their posts longer. Inspectors blame rapid turnover among governors for causing instability and holding back improvements. The minister told the PGA: “If we create the right conditions for you to do your job the way you would like to do it, I hope more of you will stay in office longer.

“Stability at the top is crucialbbecause our prisons are on a journey and there is a long road ahead of us. Cultural change does not happen overnight. My experience is that it can take three to five years before an organization really makes progress.”

Lord Timpson said he wanted better education for newly recruited prison staff to prepare them for the challenges they would face in their work. the beginning.”

The photo shows Lord Timpson delivering his speech at the PGA Conference last week. Photo credit: Ben Leapman/Inside Time