Rise in violence at West Midlands' 'overcrowded' prisons
Violence in prisons across the West Midlands has rocketed in the past few years, according to new figures.
Jails have been forced to deal with 68 incidents of 'concerted indiscipline' in the area alone, while incidents have risen by more than 200 per cent across England and Wales, according to latest Ministry of Justice statistics.
An incident is recorded as concerted indiscipline if it involves two or more prisoners acting together to defy a lawful instruction or against the requirements of the regime of the establishment. This includes major disturbances, such as riots.
Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "The Prime Minister has recognised that prisons are failing and that wholesale reform is needed. But simply trying to build a way out of the problem will not work and would mean years of disorder, violence and people dying while we wait for new prisons to be built.
"Evidence shows that building additional prisons only compounds overcrowding and its consequent problems as the courts send more people to prison every day.
"We cannot go on cramming more people into jails without any thought for the safety of staff, prisoners and the public."
In the West Midlands, there were 16 incidents in 2012, 19 in 2013, 27 in 2014 and 22 last year.
HMP Brinsford in Featherstone was the prison which had the most incidents with 19, while prisoners in Stoke Heath, Shropshire and Oakwood, Featherstone, were involved in 15 and 14 incidents respectively.
There were nine incidents at Hewell, Worcestershire, eight at Swinfen Hall, near Lichfield seven at Birmingham, four at both Dovegate, Uttoxeter and Featherstone, two at Long Lartin, Wychavon and one at Stafford.
Prisons nationwide recorded a total of 282 incidents during 2015 – more than five a week – as they struggled to cope with growing numbers of prisoners, chronic overcrowding and deep staff cuts.
The National Offender Management Service introduced a 'new enhanced incident reporting standard' last summer to gain a better understanding of the scale of the problem.
The figures reveal that incidents had more than doubled before the new recording arrangements came in – rising from 92 in 2012, to 148 in 2013, to 191 in 2014.
The figures were given by the Prisons and Probation Minister, Andrew Selous, in response to a question asked by shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter.
