06 April 2007
The Home Office's rehabilitation policies came under fire again this week, after inspectors denounced a flagship training prison as poorly managed and unreformed.
Conditions at Camp Hill prison on the Isle of Wight were so bad that inspectors concluded that the regime was incompatible with the site's role as a low-security training prison charged with getting inmates into work shortly after leaving custody.
A study by chief inspector of prisons Anne Owers, published on April 4, warned that 'Camp Hill lacked a coherent and positive direction, and had effectively become a backwater, out of the mainstream of recent changes and improvements'.
Ministers expect that low-security inmates should find the move back into mainstream society – and work – easier than those released from tougher sentences, yet Camp Hill's training systems were found wanting.
More than a third (220 out of 580) of inmates were unemployed during the inspection and Owers said that 'it was common for less than a third to move off their residential units for work'. She added: 'The work that was available rarely provided qualifications or employability, and there were few links with outside employers.'
Internal conditions were also criticised: many prisoners were unable to take a daily shower, while 'urgent attention' was deemed necessary to counter suicide risks.
Michael Spurr, deputy director general of the Prison Service, blamed conditions on a 'lack of investment'.
The Home Office will hand over responsibility for prisons to a new Ministry of Justice next month under Home Secretary John Reid's plan to improve prisons, probation and rehabilitation services amid criticism that re-offending rates remain high.
Last week Prime Minister Tony Blair formally announced the split, which will include the merging of Department for Constitutional Affairs' work into the new ministry.
The Home Office will continue to oversee security, borders and immigration policy.
PFapr2007
