Inspections of HMP Manchester and HMP Long Lartin in September and October revealed serious concerns with safety and security, with the situation at Manchester so bad that Mr Taylor issued an Urgent Notification for improvement to the Secretary of State.
Responding to the latest inspection reports on HMP Manchester and HMP Long Lartin, Nacro states:
“The latest HMIP reports on HMP Manchester and HMP Long Lartin make plain the dire consequences of a prison system failing at the most rudimentary level. Reports that archaic prison infrastructure is compromising basic security and fuelling the alarming prevalence of illicit substance misuse is radically undermining the essential purpose of prison. In their current state prisons are a world away from the functional, secure and rehabilitative environments needed to restore our criminal justice system.
These reports bear witness to the devastating impacts of chronic underinvestment in the prison system that is fueling a vicious cycle of boredom, drug-taking and violence. At Nacro we have seen first-hand the importance of work and educational opportunities to provide people in prison with structure and a sense of purpose necessary for successful rehabilitation. Yet the efficacy of such rehabilitation schemes is being critically undermined in insecure environments such as in HMP Manchester where over a third of people in prison test positive for illicit substances and HMP Long Lartin where 50% of people said it was ‘easy’ to get drugs and alcohol. Whilst the practical security measures of how drugs infiltrate prisons must be urgently addressed, we must take a rounded view of how the conditions in prison are driving substance misuse in order to successfully tackle the dysfunction at the heart of the prison system.
The failure to secure prisons and prevent the spread of illicit substances on the inside is likely to have far-reaching ramifications on the outside. Environments where it is easy to access illicit substances increases the likelihood of people leaving prison with substance misuse issues and further exacerbates the risk factors of unemployment and homelessness which are known to make it more likely that people reoffend. Without radical intervention to stem the flow of drugs and a refocusing of the prison system on rehabilitation, the current system is perpetuating behaviour that drives offending rather than preventing it.
We are concerned that in prisons across England and Wales ideals of rehabilitation’ are far-removed from the lived experience of people on the inside. The Government must take urgent action to invest in our prisons as environments conducive to rehabilitation. This radical refocus is needed if we want to prevent the current crisis from extending beyond the prison walls and into our communities.”
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We operate in more than 40 prisons and provide services across England and Wales. We help 28,000 people across our services each year and run the CAS-2 service for the Government housing people coming out of prison on bail or licence. We work with people at every stage of the criminal justice system, from liaison and diversion services in police custody and courts, to resettlement into the community after prison. We use the insights from our services and the experiences of the people we support to campaign together for a criminal justice system which better serves us all. We’ve been working in this field for more than 50 years.