Jail violence fall fails to impress Lib Dems

Date published: 22/03/2008

Violence between Manchester Prison inmates has fallen in the last 12 months, bucking the national trend.

The number of prisoner on prisoner attacks at the former Strangeways increased 20 times in 10 years from 1996 to 2006, with figures showing nine attacks rising to 172 assaults.

But the statistics for 2007 are showing a significant reduction at the prison with 127 attacks - a fall of more than a quarter.

According to figures released by the Lib Dems, one serious attack takes place every 45 minutes in the overcrowded jails of England and Wales as prison staff struggle to cope with soaring levels of violence.

Ministry of Justice figures show there were 11,484 attacks in 2006 compared with 11,826 last year. And the figures do not include prisoner on staff attacks.

Lib Dem Justice spokesman Jenny Willott said: “It is unacceptable that more than 200 inmates are attacking each other in our prisons every week.

“The Government’s addiction to criminal justice legislation has left our jails packed to the rafters.

“Prisoners are kept in ever closer proximity, and prison officers are stretched even further with the inevitable result of increased violence.

“How can we expect offenders to be rehabilitated within the penal system if they are exposed to such high levels of violence?

“These figures suggest that there is a real risk they may become more dangerous criminals than when they went in.

“Ministers must realise that we cannot build our way out of the current prison crisis.

“The Government must take a more long-term view and move drug addicts and prisoners with mental health problems into more appropriate accommodation, as well as examining alternatives to short custodial sentences.”

Nationally, the number of assaults has risen every year since the mid-1990s, with an inmate now facing a one in eight risk of being attacked by another prisoner.

587 prisoners have been released early from Manchester in seven months under the scheme to ease prison overcrowding.

The inmates were freed up to 18 days before their sentence was due to end between June last year, when the End of Custody Licence (ECL) scheme was introduced to free up cell space, and the end of January this year. Of the total, 62 were released in January.

Meanwhile, the prison population in England and Wales has risen to a record high of 82,006, leaving the system only 21 beds below full capacity.