Bob Neill MP: Findings of the HMP Birmingham report ‘are a disgrace’
4 min read
The Justice Select Committee Chair Bob Neill hopes the report into HMP Birmingham provides the wake-up call the UK prison system so desperately needs.
Yesterday’s news from HMP Birmingham has exposed the reality of life at one of Britain’s largest prisons, where appalling violence, bullying, and intimidation is rife, and in which, what would be for most of us unimaginable levels of squalor and dilapidation, are commonplace. We shouldn’t pay those who work tirelessly across the prison estate the disservice of beating around the bush. The Chief Inspector’s findings make for more than just grim reading; they are a disgrace.
The evidence laid out points to a prison that is quite simply in free fall. Against every measure, the Inspectorate found a clear and rapid deterioration in standards since it last inspected HMP Birmingham 18 months ago (in the immediate aftermath of the serious riots that took place there in December 2016). Indeed, it is only the second time HMIP has given a prison the lowest assessment rating possible against each of its four tests – safety, respect, purposeful activity, and resettlement – as damning an insight as any. The Government’s unprecedented decision to intervene shows just how grave the situation has become.
Violence has increased exponentially, with prisoners and officers regularly fearful for their own safety, so much so that both are isolating themselves out of vulnerability – offenders in their cells, often for days at a time with little or no support, and staff in their offices. Vicious attacks all too frequently go unreported, let alone punished, leading to a sense of lawlessness and impunity taking root.
Drug use remains both prevalent and blatant, with testing showing that a third of prisoners are using illicit substances, and one in seven admitting to having developed a drug problem since being inside. This fuels the flames of violence and self-harm which, in Birmingham alone, has seen three prisoners recently killed from suspected synthetic cannabinoids misuse, and a further three take their own lives since the prison’s last inspection.
Living conditions are filthy, with cockroaches, rats, and other vermin widespread, and blood, vomit, and faeces left unattended. Much of the accommodation is, quite frankly, decrepit, with broken toilets, windows, and observation panels evident in almost every cell. It’s difficult to see how we can hope to rehabilitate anyone in such surroundings, a problem made worse by the entirely inadequate provision of purposeful activities for inmates.
Such abject failure, bordering on negligence, forces us to question what more can be done. HM Prison and Probation Service has, quite evidently, been too hands off and has a lot to answer for, as of course do G4S. The wholly inadequate conditions at HMP Birmingham should have been picked up on a lot earlier by both, but it is a red herring to blame these concerns on private sector involvement. Recent cases at publicly-run HMP Liverpool and HMP Nottingham show such arguments to be naively reductive, and indeed, an unhelpful diversion from the problems at hand.
For too long, senior managers have gotten away with simply paying lip service to the Inspectorate’s reports, with only 14 of 70 recommendations achieved at Birmingham since their last inspection. The important role HMIP plays should be recognised on a statutory basis, giving it the levers it needs to initiate and enforce change. We must also look again at how we manage these large, old, Victorian prisons, which often have a complex, unsettled demographic with a high churn of inmates. Root and branch reform is required.
More broadly, we need to reduce the prison population by looking at alternatives to custodial sentences in less serious cases; recruit more staff and, importantly, retain experienced officers; reform the prison estate so that it remains fit for purpose; and make education and training opportunities central, providing support to help offenders find employment and housing once released.
There is a deeply disappointing sense of déjà vu about HMP Birmingham. Despite the very clear warning signals, we again find ourselves in a situation whereby HMIP are required to publicly raise their serious concerns for any concerted corrective measures to be implemented. The Chief Inspector, Peter Clarke, suggested that the prison’s management had been ‘asleep at the wheel.’ Let’s hope Birmingham provides the wake-up call, from the very top down, the system so desperately needs.
Bob Neill is the Conservative MP for Bromley and Chislehurst. He is Chair of the House of Commons justice committee.
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