'Urgent' changes needed at prison
The prisons inspector has called for "urgent" changes to be made at a
jail in west London.
Anne Owers said conditions at Wormwood Scrubs in Hammersmith had
deteriorated since her last inspection.
Her report said 20% of prisoners given mandatory drugs tests failed
them, which had led to gang activity.
The prison had been at the centre of a scandal over abuse of inmates by
guards but the inspection found no evidence of an abusive or negative
staff culture.
Army camps
But Ms Owers added: "However, disappointingly, it also found that
progress had been halted and, indeed, that there had been an appreciable
drift in all our key areas - safety, respect, purposeful activity and
resettlement.
"This is a direction of travel that needs urgently to be reversed."
The jail holds about 1,200 prisoners including nearly 500 foreign
nationals.
Mark Leech, editor of the Prisoner's Handbook, said the 300 new
prisoners arriving every month put Wormwood Scrubs under "enormous
pressure".
"We have neither the space nor the staff to cope with such numbers and
it's inevitable that prisons like Wormwood Scrubs will start to fail in
such circumstances,
"The solution is for the government to now open temporary cellular
accommodation in disused Army camps."
Phil Wheatley, director general of the National Offender Management
Service said: "I am pleased that the inspection has found no evidence of
an abusive or negative staff culture at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, something
which has been an issue in the past."
He added: "The inspection has refocused the governor and staff at
Wormwood Scrubs on driving forward improvements and there has already
been success in tackling illegal drug use and progress in implementing
the recommendations made by the Inspectorate, specifically in relation
to new arrivals and the establishment of a formal personal officer
scheme."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.
Published: 2008/11/18 00:35:06 GMT
Tuesday 18 November 2008
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