Criticism where it's due - but let's have Truth and Credit too

It's regrettable that the two barristers, Jonathan Metzer and Jake Richards who authored the lamentable and factually inaccurate article published in The Times today didn't wait a week.

Had they done so they would then have been able to quote from the Chief Inspector of Prisons Annual Report for the current year (I believe it's published on the 20th October) and not the one that began two years ago which is by now widely out of date.

[A transcript of their article is at the foot of this one]

There's no doubt that our prisons are in a mess, but the regrettable use by Metzer and Richards of quotes from Elizabeth Fry following her visit to Newgate Prison in 1813 describing conditions there of “filth, the closeness of the rooms, the furious manner . . . the abandoned wickedness, which everything bespoke are really indescribable” in order to claim "too little has changed two hundred years later" is to stretch the truth right to the very edge of (let's be honest here) a downright lie.

To anyone who knows anything about prisons and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), the truth is that actually a great deal has changed; and for the better too.

For a start there has been more investment in our prisons in the last two years than there has been in the last two decades - only yesterday the modernisation and improvement at four more prisons was announced - the latest step in a ￡2.5 billion investment to modernise our prison estate; but the authors make no mention of this investment.

As for overcrowding, yes the authors are right to state our prisons are overcrowded, but they either do not know, and if they do they certainly fail to mention, that we are today sitting with a prison population that is thousands below what it was even a year ago; that improvement too is swept under the carpet.

What's more they are not only selective about the figures they choose not to quote, but they seek to fiddle with those that they choose to quote too:

"Our prisons are remarkably overcrowded.... HMP Swansea, for example, is designed for a capacity of 250 men, but currently holds over 400 inmates."

Sorry but that is not true at all.

• Certified normal accommodation and operational capacity
• Prisoners held at the time of this visit: 371
• Baseline certified normal capacity: 255
• In-use certified normal capacity: 255
• Operational capacity: 499

HMP Swansea was subject to a Prisons Inspectorate Scrutiny Visit on 25th August 2020, the report into that visit (published 6th October 2020) actually shows (above) Swansea has a Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA, uncrowded, one man to one cell figure) of 255, and they are wrong to claim it 'currently holds over 400' because as a matter of accurate, up to date fact, it quite plainly doesn't.

The report states the prison held 371 at the time of the inspection - and as for the safe operational capacity of the prison, the OpCap, that is actually set at 499 men - 130 above the numbers currently held - but that is another inconvenient fact the authors fail to mention.

They also fail to recognise that the majority of prisoners banged up all day probably welcome a cell mate - I know I certainly did in that situation (including when I was locked up at Swansea); it was only when I was out at work all day that I welcomed the solitude of a single cell at night, and I suspect I am not alone in that.

Lamentably in quoting from a two year old Annual Report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, readers unfamiliar with the reality of prison life are misled into thinking the conditions described in that report accurately reflects the position today; the authors write:

"More generally, the report describes “extremely squalid conditions”, including “broken windows, unscreened lavatories in shared cells, vermin and filth”. It concludes that “far too many of our jails have been plagued by drugs, violence, appalling living conditions and a lack of access to meaningful rehabilitative activity”.

Is this really true today?

Certainly there are still problems with a backlog of maintenance since the collapse of Carillion but the Dickensian conditions quoted by the authors do not exist to the extent they did during the period the Annual Report they quote from covers.

As a direct result of the Chief Inspector of Prisons 'Urgent Notification' protocol, buttressed by the Interim Reports of Progress (IRP's) that the current (and now outgoing) Chief Inspector of Prisons introduced to his credit to ensure the recommendations he made actually were turned from theory into practice (a welcome by-product perhaps of my own criticisms of him in the media), the reality is that the worst of those conditions identified by the authors in this article frankly no longer exist.

But they do not mention that.

Yes, lockdown has been dreadful for prisoners, prison staff and both of their families too - as it has for the general population nationwide as well.

That said it is not all bad news, in our prisons the lock down has also had an undeniably positive effect too of restoring some order to a world where a year ago total chaos reigned.

What shocks me about this article is both the audacity the authors seemingly had to fiddle the figures to fit their theory - and their arrogance too in thinking they would get away with it; who did they think they were kidding?

HMPPS deserve absolute credit for managing a dangerous Covid situation remarkably well, and a volatile prison population that could so easily have flipped the entire prison system into complete self-destruct too but hasn't; they've followed Government advice to the letter.

So, give criticism where that is justified, absolutely, but please let us also recognise the truth and the reality of life inside our prisons today and, as a result, give credit where that credit is unquestionably due too.

Mark Leech is the Editor of The Prisons Handbook for England and Wales, The Prison Oracle, the Definitive UK prisons website, and other works

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Following a visit to Newgate Prison in 1813, the social reformer Elizabeth Fry described what she saw. “Filth, the closeness of the rooms, the furious manner . . . the abandoned wickedness, which everything bespoke are really indescribable.”

Too little has changed two hundred years later. The annual report from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons tells us that some “particularly vulnerable prisoners were living in squalid cells which were not fit for habitation. The blood of another prisoner, who had self-harmed two days previously, had not been cleaned from the cell floor . . . and there were problems with fleas, cockroaches and rodents.”

More generally, the report describes “extremely squalid conditions”, including “broken windows, unscreened lavatories in shared cells, vermin and filth”. It concludes that “far too many of our jails have been plagued by drugs, violence, appalling living conditions and a lack of access to meaningful rehabilitative activity”.

The language is redolent of the 19th century. Elizabeth Fry was memorialised on the ￡5 note from 2002 to 2016 but her message has been too readily ignored.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic makes the situation in prisons still more urgent. The unprecedented circumstances have required sacrifices from us all, but for prisoners the conditions forced upon them have been extreme. Early on in the lockdown, another report from the inspector described how symptomatic prisoners were isolated in their cells without any opportunity to come out for up to 14 days. Some other inmates were permitted only 30 minutes outside their cells each day, and to choose whether to shower or seek some exercise — a solitary walk in limited outside space.

Conditions are so appalling that some prisoners may even be suffering from treatment that breaches Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights, the right that protects all of us from inhuman or degrading treatment.

The situation also harms innocent family members outside. Many children have not seen their parents since the beginning of lockdown — in person, or even via video technology. They are often some of the most vulnerable children, and such a lengthy period without any parental contact is causing significant harm. Whilst limited visits have started in some prisons, reports suggest that a young child reaching out to touch their parent, after over six months without contact, could result in the prisoner being placed in solitary isolation for 14 days with an indefinite visiting ban.

These measures are draconian. It is unlikely they would be considered necessary if we had a functional prison estate. The pandemic has exposed underlying problems due to years of underfunding and a failure to reform the short-term sentencing regime. Our prisons are remarkably overcrowded — ten are at over 150 per cent capacity. HMP Swansea, for example, is designed for a capacity of 250 men, but currently holds over 400 inmates.

This has wider ramifications. Levels of self-harm and suicide are now reaching extraordinary levels. There were 83 self-inflicted deaths in male prisons in 2018-19, with 45,000 incidents of self-harm.

The imperative for reform is a moral one. But it is a self-interested one too. Upon release from overcrowded prisons, often with severe mental health problems, and only ￡46 in their pocket as a discharge grant — a figure which has not increased since 1996 — too many offenders turn once more to crime. Reoffending rates are over 25 per cent, with that figure almost three times higher for those in prison for shorter periods. We are all less safe if prisons cannot work with and rehabilitate their prisoners.

Elizabeth Fry’s moral imperative was shared by her successor on the ￡5 note. Britain’s great leader in a crisis, Winston Churchill, said that “the treatment of crime and criminals mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation”. After his victory in the election last December, the prime minister said. “Let’s unite this country. Let’s spread opportunity to every corner of the UK.”

Prisoners and their families must not be ignored in this mission.

Jake Richards and Jonathan Metzer are barristers

Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-has-made-reforming-dire-prison-conditions-more-urgent-vcx5b96hl