LABOUR must bring prison maintenance contracts back in-house in line with its pre-election promise to introduce the “biggest wave of in-sourcing in a generation,” the Prison Officers Association (POA) has urged.

With the contracts due for renewal in the coming months, the union has launched its Bring It Back In House campaign after the government stated that the public sector would not be invited to submit bids.

General secretary Steve Gillan condemned privatised prison maintenance as a “costly and unmitigated disaster,” being more expensive than public provision while delivering a poorer service.