Liz Truss speech offers no consolation for beleaguered prison officers
Liz Truss: She may be Justice Secretary but she is offering no justice to hard-pressed prison officers [Image: PA].
The problems at HMP Northumberland, documented on the BBC’s Panorama last night, could all be said to stem from a lack of enough prison officers.
The Ministry of Justice has agreed to investigate the report’s findings – but that does not mean anything will be done.
Yesterday’s speech by Ms Truss offered nothing to help beleaguered prison officers in Northumberland or elsewhere.
Instead it concentrated on box-ticking efforts like having a beefed up prisons inspectorate “with teeth” so that the justice secretary can be held to account over its recommendations; improving rehabilitation programmes; and getting more targeted help for drug offenders.
She also said she would not change the rules around indeterminate sentences for public protection. Had this been requested, at all?
Prison numbers cannot be cut with “dangerous quick fix” solutions, the justice secretary has said.
Liz Truss said the overcrowding is down to more criminals serving time for violence and sex crimes.
She called for early interventions and better reforms but not shorter sentences, after a BBC investigation revealed chaos at one jail.
The Howard League said the problems uncovered were seen in “almost every prison in the country”.
Source: Liz Truss: No ‘quick fix’ to cut prison population – BBC News
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Privatisation of prisons leading to massive staff cuts have been blamed by some but people tend to forget that the Probation Service was also privatised for non-serious offenders – could this explain the high re-offending rate ?
I found this very revealing article written by a probation officer on this very topic… https://tinyurl.com/3dfgjvk
yet on it goes going private open up that tax pot to those crooked companies has thats whot they are crooks
She won’t do anything positive. To bring the prison service back fully into the public sector would mean Tories and their chums wouldn’t be able to make money at public expense.
If the US do it we have to follow, cut cut cut for maximum profit
Maybe the private prisons should have to sort out their own problems when the lid comes off, instead of being able to rely on the public side of the service to supply the highly trained officers to do it for them, then they might both staff the prisons better and train their staff correctly, instead of just looking at £ signs.