The UK’s Ministry of Justice will take over the operation of HMP Birmingham, one of the most violent prisons in the country.
By taking the HMP Birmingham under state control, the government aims to stabilise conditions, and install new leadership to support and bolster existing staff. The action was taken following a letter sent by Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke to Justice Secretary David Gauke, in which Clarke called the prison the worst he had ever visited.
The government has previously tried to work with G4S, the company which runs the prison, to improve conditions, but has now decided that more comprehensive action is needed to meet the challenges the jail is facing. This is thought to be the first time that the UK government has been forced to take a publicly operated prison back under state control since the first one opened in 1992.
How have conditions in HMP Birmingham become so bad?
G4S signed a 15-year contract to operate the prison in 2011, but since its first year in control of the facility, assaults have increased fivefold, with 1,147 assaults – more than one third of which were against prison staff – taking place in 2017, the BBC reports. A 14-hour riot was carried out by more than 500 prisoners in December 2016, which also marked a turning point for deteriorating conditions.
To address the problems, which include rife drug and alcohol use, unclean cells, and infestations of rats and cockroaches, the Ministry of Justice will reduce the prison’s capacity by 300 places, and reallocate 30 experienced prison service staff members to bolster staffing.
What has the government said about addressing the prison’s challenges?
According to Prisons Minister Rory Stewart, the challenges the prison is facing are not related to the fact that the facility is privately run. He emphasised that by taking over the prison for an initial six-month period, the Ministry of Justice could deliver improvements without using taxpayer money.
Stewart said: “What we have seen at Birmingham is unacceptable and it has become clear that drastic action is required… We can provide additional resources to the prison while insulating the taxpayer from the inevitable cost this entails. We have good, privately-run prisons across the country and while Birmingham faces its own particular set of challenges, I am absolutely clear that it must start to live up to the standards seen elsewhere.”
