The prison service is in crisis
Prisons should be a place for rehabilitation that keep everyone inside them safe — instead, they are little more than crowded warehouses, chronically underfunded and their staff dangerously overworked, writes STEVE GILLAN
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THE Prison Officers’ Association (POA) conference commences in Eastbourne where delegates gather to set the policy for the national executive committee and full-time officers to carry out.
We will hear keynote speakers from across the political spectrum and from the employer of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most concerning periods for HMPPS in decades.
I do not use the words lightly: there is no doubt that the prison service is in deep crisis. We have witnessed measures such as “operation safeguard,” “operation early dawn,” and a variety of early release schemes to ease overcrowding.
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Tory austerity triggered a crisis in our jails and only a decisive break from the past can turn this around, explains STEVE GILLAN
Stripped of their industrial muscle and left at the mercy of ministers and management, prison officers have been pushed way beyond breaking point, warns STEVE GILLAN
