A serving prison officer has told LBC the prison capacity crisis in England and Wales is being exacerbated by “chronically low” staffing.
A whistleblower has claimed parts of England’s prison estate are being closed “under false pretences”, with wings allegedly being shut and labelled as under “renovation” amid staffing shortages.
Sam, a serving prison officer whose name we’ve changed to protect his identity, told LBC the prison capacity crisis in England and Wales is being exacerbated by “chronically low” staffing, which limits the number of cells that can be safely managed in facilities and therefore reduces the supply of places across the system.
Without addressing this, he contends, the combination of increasing the number of places and releasing inmates early will not fix the issues at the heart of a creaking prison system.
In an arresting account, Sam spoke candidly of the mounting pressures facing officers across the country.
He revealed colleagues are routinely being attacked with boiling water laced with sugar to stick to their skin, inflicting further pain, and that many sites now feel on the verge of riots “every single day”.
On top of this, he lays bare the impact of the drug epidemic across the prison estate, with officers being signed off sick for months after coming into contact with fumes from inmates’ use of synthetic highs - also known as spice.
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