Report reveals prison riot warning
By politics.co.uk staff
Ken Clarke’s attempts to shrug off a new year prison riot may be harder than he initially thought.
A report has emerged from the Independent Monitoring Board showing the justice secretary was warned about understaffing at West Sussex’s Ford open prison.
The institution was seized by prisoners early on New Year’s Day after contraband alcohol found its way into inmates’ hands. Rioting resulted in fires breaking out.
“As far as I am aware the prison was staffed at its normal level, we had made no changes since we took office and the arrangements under the previous government,” Mr Clarke told the Commons earlier this week.
“I don’t think we should start leaping to conclusions about whether there was anything that was at the heart of this apart from the appallingly bad behaviour of people who had been acquiring alcohol in the run up to New Year’s Eve.”
But the IMB report submitted to Mr Clarke on December 16th clearly expressed concern about the level of staffing at the prison.
It stated: “Whilst there have only been minor incidents in the last year we do not consider that proper control is being exercised at night and are sceptical of the response received in the past that it must be adequate because there has not been a serious incident yet.”
The report found that the open prison has seen large amounts of contraband material entering prisoners’ cells over the last three years – including 200 drug-related items and 51 litres of alcohol.
