Member News
Baroness Stern explains the background to her question in the Lords on Wednesday about the government's plans for the running of the Prison Service.
The government is making cuts in the Ministry of Justice budget and prisons will not be exempt. Various ways are being found to reduce prison costs at a time of unprecedented expansion in the number of prison places. In April 2008, the reduction in the prison 'core week' was introduced, which means that the weekend regime with no activities and a longer time locked up begins at Friday lunchtime.
For this year the cuts seem to be likely to come from cutting staff. The House of Lords on many occasions made clear its dislike of the government's plans to build so-called Titan prisons and there was general relief when the plans for prisons holding 2500 people were abandoned.
However, prisons are now getting larger by stealth. The prison service is reducing staff costs by amalgamating prisons under one management, even if they are geographically far distant. The latest planned amalgamation is of Askham Grange, a very highly rated open women's prison, with New Hall, a prison 30 miles away with a range of problems. Two of the amalgamated prisons hold 1,700 and 2,400 prisoners respectively, which could be called the introduction of Titan prisons by the back door.
The cuts each year reduce the staffing and resources available for each prisoner whilst the number of prisoners grows. So we are seeing larger prisons, less attention for each prisoner and a gradual transformation of the prison service from a rehabilitative service into a warehousing function. Such changes will make prisons very difficult to run and reduce even further the contribution they can make to a safer society.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd