A London prison that was on a flagship scheme for cutting drug use and violence is now blighted with increasing attacks and a “serious problem” with illicit substances fuelled by chronic staff shortages, a report has warned.
Wormwood Scrubs was part of a 2018 project set up by the then prisons minister Rory Stewart aimed at “reducing violence through radically increasing security against drugs and challenging all abusive behaviour”.
But a report on Tuesday by the jail’s Independent Monitoring Board says that it has seen a 17 per rise in violent incidents over the past year during which tensions have sometimes “boiled over” amid gang and debt problems fuelled by drugs which are “easily available and plentiful” inside the prison.
It blames “chronic staff shortages” for contributing to problems in all aspects of prison life and, in a damning assessment, warns that the situation is being worsened by overcrowding.
“The prison acknowledges that drugs of many types are easily accessible and plentiful,” the report states.
“Drugs are a serious problem and drive violence, health problems, debt and gang activity.
“But, as with so much else, staffing shortages and lack of resources seem to have diverted focus elsewhere.”
The monitoring board adds that although “recorded violence, self-harm and drug misuse“ were “lower than comparator prisons” by the end of the reporting year at Wormwood Scrubs “they were trending up, reflecting increased pressures within the prison and the wider prison estate”.
Illustrating the point, it says that recorded violent incidents rose 17 per cent to 345 over the year, “averaging 29 per month” while the “number of prisoners involved was 567, the third successive yearly increase.”
Prisoner-on-prisoner assaults were up 12 per cent with an even bigger 51 per cent increase in assaults on staff.
Today’s report says tbe prison blamed some of the increased violence on “frustrations caused by the need to move prisoners around against their wishes due to accommodation shortages” as well as the arrival of ”prisoners coming in from outside the usual catchment areas” because of the national shortage of prison places.
The report also warns that “staffing shortages have led to more distant, less confident relationships between wing staff and prisoners” and that “tensions have sometimes boiled over” as a result.
It says the increase in assaults on staff has also been blamed on “factors such as gang and debt issues on certain wings”.
In further negative findings, the monitoring board lists a number of previously requested improvements where no or inadequate action has been taken. It also highlights the absence of “a ‘departure lounge’ facility for prisoners to provide advice about housing and benefits before release.”
As a consequence, it warns that “a significant proportion” of freed inmates “do not have permanent housing in place on release” and thst staffing shortages are le to delays in referring prisoners to the housing charity St Mungo’s for advice and support.
