Our thanks to Ian for pointing us to this article about life in Wormwood Scrubs. Anyone who believes prison is ‘soft’ for male inmates should read it, and we’ll be covering prison conditions in our election manifesto. Selected extracts:
The Scrubs, a Victorian jail completed in 1891, houses nearly 1,300 inmates. The atmosphere in its five wings has seriously deteriorated in the past year, and is anything but relaxed.
Drug abuse and bullying are rife. The huge number of mentally ill, drug-addicted, alcoholic and foreign prisoners — around 40 per cent of its population are from overseas — adds to the phenomenal burden…
Staff shortages mean inmates are often locked up in cells for up to 23 hours a day. That is why the place often felt like a simmering pressure cooker. Turmoil was never far from the surface, with physical assaults part of life…
I recognised many inmates came from difficult backgrounds, and large numbers had been brought up in dysfunctional or criminal families, but an equally significant issue was the number with mental health problems.
It has been estimated that 72 per cent of male prisoners in Britain have at least two mental disorders. [our emphasis] At Wormwood Scrubs, the number of registered mental health prisoners regularly reached 700 a month. If the mentally unwell had been taken out, the prison would have been far less dangerous and overcrowded…
Poor hygiene was also an issue. Convicted prisoners are only officially allowed one shower and one change of prison-issue tracksuit and bed linen a week. The lack of adequate staff for the prison laundry meant clean clothes were not always available.
Nor, for security reasons, were cell windows adequate for proper ventilation. A hot summer was particularly difficult for prisoners in the upper landings where temperatures could soar unbearably. Animals would not be allowed to be confined in such uncomfortable conditions, but I was told there was little that could be done, since electric fans were regarded as too expensive and potentially dangerous weapons if taken apart…
Much of the physical structure, like the antiquated heating system, is outdated, and half the kitchen ovens were usually out of action.
Staff shortages — particularly after cuts kicked in last October — meant wings regularly went into lock down, so prisoners cannot attend the library, or training courses or workshops, which are all meant to be part of their rehabilitation…
The jail’s catering budget, for example, amounts to just £1.87 per prisoner per day, yet for that sum the kitchens have to produce three meals a day, with five choices of main course at dinner to meet all cultural requirements, including religious festivals, vegetarianism and medical conditions like coeliac intolerance…
After ten years as a member of the Independent Monitoring Board, the last three as Chair, I felt mounting despair. The heavy cuts imposedby the Ministry of Justice have diminished staff levels and worsened conditions.
This is not only inhumane but also counter-productive, for it reinforces the cycle of offending: 60 per cent of ex-prisoners are re-convicted within two years of their release.
For the sake of our society, there has to be a better way, which protects the community but also makes prisoners want to change. The long-term warehousing of the mentally-ill must stop, and they should be kept to specialist jails. [our emphasis]
It is sometimes said that we can judge a civilisation by how it treats its prisoners. On that criterion, we are failing badly.
