Prisons facing greatest crisis in history - Use Your Voice to call for Urgent Action

A visit to Pentonville 

The long corridors loomed empty and footstepless as I entered Pentonville Prison this week. The air was thick with frustration. The inmates had been locked up for over 24 hours having been given little or no information as to why or for how long.

As we approached the centre of the prison and looked to the upper levels lined with cells I heard banging on one door. An inmate called out to me “cell 44 is flooded, tell them to send someone.” Another inmate pressed his face to the small window of his cell as we passed. Catching his gaze, it felt wrong to smile but also to look away.

We had been allowed access because of User Voice, an award winning social enterprise working to reform prisons founded by an inspiring ex-offender Mark Johnson - a natural entrepreneur and visionary. At the heart of the User Voice model is collaboration. Work is led and delivered primarily by people who have experienced the criminal justice system first hand.  For example, we met Max, who leads much of the on the ground work and now has his own set of keys to the prison where he was formerly incarcerated.  An embodiment of real rehabilitation and the power of their model.

User Voice’s approach gives them the access, credibility and insight to achieve real engagement and rehabilitation in a “them and us” culture which, while clearly necessary, has arguably gone too far. They work with prisoners to establish democratic councils in prisons, whereby prisoners develop manifestos as to how to they would improve life for prisoners and stand for election voted by their peers. Campaign posters around the prison highlighted the objectives the prisoner-led councils would work towards. These surprised me: “Unlock when incidents cleared”, “Access to shower after a full day’s work” - rights I would have thought were a given. “Courses in addiction, victim awareness, first aid” - a clear desire for self-improvement.  A far cry from the flat screen TVs and sports equipment I was reading about.

 Two to a small cell, a bunkbed and a shared toilet.  Access to privacy to go to the toilet, or to a daily shower, or the legal right to time out of your cell if you have done nothing wrong – none a ‘given.’

There are over 7,000 fewer prison officers than there were in 2010, record numbers of prisoners, and deaths, mental health cases and violence are at an all-time high.

On the radio today, I heard journalists giving prison officer representatives a grilling for striking. An ex officer called in and talked about having to cut a hanged corpse free, dealing with frustrated, depressed often violent prisoners. Can we really expect them to cope with that pressure? Payscale shows a prison officer median salary of ￡8 an hour in 2016. The radio caller said average turnover for staff was 3 months.

Prisoners’ voices are not heard. Except for when organisations like Users Voice steps in, they are not consulted for solutions. As evidenced by Justice Secretary Liz Truss’s recent White Paper which includes plans for extra drug tests in an environment where the most popular prison drug,  “Spice”, is undetectable by any existing tests.

“The spike in violence and cuts are inextricably linked” -

– National Chairman of the Professional Trades Union for Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers

Perhaps understandably, with limited resources supporting prisons is political suicide - as one politician is purported to have said. Regardless of your views on the balance of prison as punishment vs rehabilitation, the current approach, driven by budget cuts, is a violation of basic rights and in the long run is going to cost society significantly more – with money being only one measure of this perhaps in the short term also as mass riots become a reality.

“English and Welsh prisons are in their worst state in 10 years”. -

Former Chief Inspector of Prisons

So I call on all to take action. Show politicians that we will not stand by while men and women are effectively tortured and that we support and need spending on our prisons. Find out for yourself what really happens in prisons and educate your communities. Volunteer, mentor, befriend, donate, be a trustee, write to your MP with a balanced argument and first hand experience (it takes a few minutes using “writetothem.com”). Go and visit a prison and perhaps you will feel as compelled as me to act. The Prison Reform Trust place is a great place to start. Please get in touch if you’d like to join me @rupalkantaria.

I was invited to visit User Voice’s work by Ashoka UK as part of their work supporting social entrepreneurs like Mark Johnson.