Ministers accused of jails 'failure'

14 June 2014 Last updated at 12:16

The chief inspector of prisons has delivered a fierce attack on the state of prisons in England and Wales after dozens of already full jails were told to take in more inmates.

Nick Hardwick warned of dangerous overcrowding and said it was down to a "political and policy failure".

All but six of the jails told to raise their "operational capacity" are at full capacity or overcrowded.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said the move was a "precaution".

'Outstripped resources'

The prisons affected include Bedford, Durham, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln and three facilities in London - Brixton, Pentonville and Wandsworth, according to documents seen by the BBC.

Mr Hardwick told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The situation is extremely serious and I am very concerned".

He said the system was not coping, and warned that because of staff shortages, men were locked up together for 23 hours a day, causing "huge tension".

"We have got to cut our coat according to our cloth" he said, saying either extra resources were needed or the prison population had to be reduced.

"This is a political and policy failure - this is not the fault of staff", Mr Hardwick said, saying the problem had arisen because "demands on the system have completely outstripped the resources available to them".

He added: "Prisoners, staff and the public are at risk because of it."

But Mr Grayling told the programme he disagreed with Mr Hardwick's comments.

There are currently 1,000 spare prison places, he said, promising 2,000 new ones by April.

He said there had been a recent increase in prisoners which could be linked to prosecutions for historic sex offences.

Analysis: Danny Shaw, Home Affairs Correspondent, BBC News

Nick Hardwick is a mild-mannered chap. Since his appointment as chief inspector of prisons four years ago he has steered clear of controversy, avoiding direct criticism of government penal policy - a feature of one of his predecessors, Lord Ramsbotham.

So his unexpectedly blunt warning about prison conditions and assertion that ministers are to blame are all the more likely to cause alarm in Whitehall.

Mr Hardwick's concerns about the long, hot summer echo those of staff at the sharp end: governors and officers.

More prisoners crammed into cells and less time for education and exercise increase tensions.

Add to that tighter rules on day release after a series of dangerous offenders absconded and there's a real risk of disorder.

And the justice secretary said the latest measures were to prepare for a possible further increase in the prison population over the summer.

"I am taking sensible precautions now to make sure that we are capable of expanding capacity to meet that", he said.

He defended the government's policy of replacing "old, Victorian prisons" and said overcrowding would mean that "a few hundred prisoners more will have to share a cell over the next few weeks".

The jails have been told they need to find accommodation for 440 more prisoners, in total.

This figure represents about 0.5% of the prison population of 85,410. On average, the 40 prisons affected will have to find space for an additional 11 inmates each.

Labour has pointed the finger at the government's decision to close some prisons, saying the space shortage was the result of ministerial "incompetence".

The Prison Reform Trust called on politicians of both sides to "wake up to the damage they are doing", while the Prison Officers Association described the development as a "fiasco".

	Prison name	Uncrowded capacity (CNA*)	Actual population	Population as % of capacity
*Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA) is the prison service's measure of how many inmates can be held in good uncrowded conditions. Source: Ministry of Justice and HM Prison Service
1	Swansea	242	446	184%
2	Lincoln	403	692	172%
3	Preston	421	718	171%
4	Leicester	214	363	170%
5	Exeter	318	538	169%
6	Wandsworth	943	1597	169%
7	Kennet	175	272	155%
8	Bedford	322	487	151%
9	Cardiff	539	807	150%
10	Doncaster	738	1108	150%
11	Nottingham	723	1086	150%
12	Durham	591	880	149%
13	Thameside	600	892	149%
14	Bristol	407	604	148%
15	Leeds	826	1190	144%
16	Pentonville	915	1313	143%
17	Altcourse	794	1129	142%
18	Brixton	530	748	141%
19	Winchester	499	683	137%
20	Hull	552	748	136%

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