‘STAFFING PROBLEMS CREATE UNSAFE PRIVATE PRISONS’

The Prison Reform Trust is calling on the government to take urgent action to address the severe staffing problems in the seven jails in England and Wales built and managed by the private sector.

The staffing crisis in these prisons is highlighted today in a report published by the National Audit Office. The report, ‘The Operational Performance of PFI Prisions’ highlights the extremely high turnover of staff in Parc, Altcourse, Lowdham Grange, Ashfield, Forest Bank, Rye Hill and Dovegate prisons.

Overall these prisons lost on average 28% of their staff in 2001/2. Rye Hill prison had the worst record with nearly 40% of staff leaving the prison during the year. The staff losses were far higher than in public prisons which on average lost just 6% of staff in the same year.

The National Audit Office report also raises concerns about the lack of experienced staff in private prisons.  It says that prison officers tend to have little or no prior experience of working in prisons and have generally been in their post for much less time than their public sector equivalents.

These staffing problems mean private prisons struggle to create a safe environment for prisoners. The NAO report reveals the high level of assaults at Ashfield, Dovegate, Rye Hill, Forest Bank and Altcourse. It says that prisoners in these jails expressed concerns about their safety due to the relative inexperience of staff.

Speaking today the Director of the Prision Reform Trust Juliet Lyon said:

‘Regrettably this NAO report pays no attention to the morality of profits made from imprisonment, the long term costs to the taxpayer, or the potential danger of profit motive as another factor driving up the record high prison population’

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The seven operational PFI prisons (Altcourse, Ashfield, Dovegate, Forest Bank, Lowdham Grange, Parc, and Ryehill) now account for about five per cent of the prison estate and hold 5,000 prisoners (around 7% of the total prison population).

2. There are four private sector contractors: Group 4, Securicor, UKDS and Premier. Two further PFI prisons (Ashford and Peterborough) are due to be built (by UKDS).

3. The prison population in England and Wales has increased by 36 per cent since January 1996, when the Prison Service let the first PFI prison contract.

4. On June 13 2003 the prison population in England and Wales stood at 73,379, its highest ever recorded level