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Staff cuts blamed for UK prisons mayhem

Saturday, 19 September 2015 2:45 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 19 September 2015 2:46 PM ]

Cuts in prison staff are said to have caused some recent chaos in UK jails. (file photo)

A new report says staffing cuts are to blame for recent disturbances in a couple of British prisons.

UK prison officers’ union has warned of hidden costs to the cuts, saying that they were leading to some prisoners going unsupervised.

This comes after prison riot squads had to storm a cell at the high-security Whitemoor prison in Cambridgeshire last weekend when a prisoner took a hostage, the Guardian said.

Negotiators failed to persuade the hostage-taker, who had flooded the cell and started fires, to end the siege, which lasted nine hours.

This is while riot squads ended a standoff involving 13 prisoners who set up barricades blocking two entrances to one of the wings at Garth prison, in Lancashire.

“Once again, we are seeing serious incidents which we believe are a result of staff cuts. These have resulted in a lack of purposeful activity and prisoners being unsupervised,” Glyn Travis, spokesman for the Prison Officers Association, was quoted as saying in the report.

“Such incidents were costly and involve detailed investigations by the prison service and the police. These are the hidden costs of the cuts to the taxpayers.”

Whitemoor houses 450 prisoners, including some of the most dangerous in the system, the reported noted.

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