14 March 2003
Prisons have suffered a huge turnover of governors and record sickness levels among staff, the Prison Reform Trust has claimed.
In research published this week, the pressure group said that just under a third of prisons had employed four or more governors in the past five years.
At the same time, there were high sickness levels among prison officers. Last year, an average of 17.2 days per officer were lost, up from 13.9 days the previous year, and almost double the Prison Service target of nine days.
The trust said that while these upheavals had affected staffing, prison overcrowding had put increased stress on officers. The prison population has reached 72,500, it said.
Trust director Juliet Lyon said that constant changes at senior levels, high staff sickness and overcrowding were 'a recipe for disaster'.
A Home Office spokeswoman said that governors were moved because they needed experience of different types of prisons, and that staff sickness levels have now fallen to 15.25 days per officer on average.
PFmar2003
