‘Profound culture change’ needed in UK prisons

A new report argues that prisons in England and Wales need a ‘profound culture change’ so that inmate safety is prioritised further.

There has been an unprecedented increase in the rates of suicide in UK prisons in the last few years, rising by 34 per cent, alongside a 40 per cent rise in violent incidents.

The Centre for Mental Health and the Howard League for Penal Reform have published a report, based upon interviews with healthcare staff working in prisons, that argues that the majority of prisoners have multiple and complex needs, including poor mental health, and that distress, self-harm and suicide attempts are too often seen as signs of manipulation, rather than vulnerability.

The report contests that continuing staffing shortages are contributing to the risk of prisoner suicide and that the prison workforce, as a whole, appears to have poor mental health and little support.

The two charities are therefore calling for all prisons to adopt a ‘stepped care’ approach in which the whole system is responsible for a prisoner’s well-being and mental health support is available at every level of need. This requires all prison staff to receive training and support to support prisoners’ well-being, and look after their own, as well as robust risk assessments to be carried out when a person arrives at a prison.

Sarah Hughes, chief executive of the Centre for Mental Health, said: "We need to bring about a culture change in prisons that puts safety top of the agenda, that understands the traumas both prisoners and staff too often live with, and that means people get the right help when they need it."

Meanwhile, a BBC Panorama report has revealed a plethora of problems at HMP Northumberland. The prison, which houses up to 1,348 male inmates, was found to have widespread drug use, a lack of control, door alarms that did not go off in one block and a hole in an internal security fence.

Prison officers also found balaclavas, blackout clothing and wire-cutting tools at the category C jail, leading to assumptions that inmates had been sneaking out to collect drugs or other contraband thrown over the perimeter fence.