Understaffing caused UK prison crisis: Report
A new report has shown that the United Kingdom’s Prison Service actually failed to hire the staff it urgently needed in its prison facilities.
The report by the Observer published on Saturday showed that the Prison Service failed to replace hundreds of senior staff and management who had left the organization in the past five years.
The report said the understaffing caused “dangerous” flaws in the prison system in the UK, leading to situations like what has been reported as an acute crisis in the HMP Birmingham, the main prison facility in the second largest city in Britain.
The data obtained by the Observer from the Ministry of Justice showed that only two senior prison managers had joined the prison service in the past five years to replace some 40 who had left. It said one of those two managers quit less than a year after he was hired. It showed that positions of 295 custodial managers who had left the body remained vacant as only one replacement was made.
The report said that around 17,000 staff members left the Prison Service between 2012 and 2016 and most of the roles in the organization saw a decrease in new recruitment.
The new figures come amid growing public concerns in the UK about the situation in the country’s jails where the government has been outsourcing its responsibilities to private contractors. Reports last week showed that the HMP Birmingham, run by G4S, a well-known security company, had been grappling with high rates of violence and drug use over the past years. The government swiftly took back control at the facility and employed some 30 new officers to restore the situation to normal.
Nikki Haley faces protests over Israeli genocide support on Oxford visit
Church of England sex scandal
Over half of Britons say Israel committing war crimes in Gaza: Poll
Israel launches air strikes on Syria-Lebanon border crossing
Russia: Comprehensive deal with Iran will include defense, security ties
VIDEO | Israeli embassy shooting in Jordan leaves gunman dead, 3 police injured
VIDEO | Paris march in support of Palestine women
VIDEO | ICC issues arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister, ousted regime war minister
120 Palestinians perish as Israeli war machine keeps ravaging Gaza
VIDEO | Struggles of Palestinian women amidst war, displacement
VIDEO | Hezbollah rains attack drones down on elite Israeli brigade
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
