Star comment: It’s time to get a grip on prisons

It is, after all, meant to be a punishment and not a holiday camp.

But events of recent years and months have been alarming to say the least. Overcrowding is leading to escalating violence. Staff are increasingly being attacked. And riots are breaking out.

Just look at the disgraceful scenes that took place at Winson Green at the end of last year. Something very wrong is going on.

In the latest of a series of scathing reports, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons has given HMP Featherstone the lowest rating for safety, highlighting ‘serious concerns’.

Attacks on staff at the prison have more than doubled in a year from 23 to 50 last year, and assaults in general also rose from 146 to 192.

The South Staffordshire MP Gavin Williamson is right – we need to get a grip on the prison system.

We need to ensure violent offenders are separated from lower category inmates. And we need to make sure there are appropriate staffing levels.

Prison officers should not go to work fearing for their safety.

Of course, it would be an unrealistic expectation for officers not to expect challenges. But it is unacceptable to put up with mutiny and violence.

If overcrowding is the major issue, then there is a simple solution – build more prisons.

Not only would it ease the burden on other prisons and staff, but it would create new jobs. This newspaper has long believed that prison works and its main purpose – taking dangerous people off of our streets – is often forgotten about.

But it is crystal clear that as long as the prison system is in crisis, it fails in delivering its other remit of rehabilitation.

The country has to live within its means financially, but sometimes it can cost more in the long run if corners are cut at the outset.

That’s why we need to see the right level of investment in our criminal justice system.

Prison should be tough. It is a deterrent. But we cannot have it descending into pandemonium and a life of lawlessness with drugs rife throughout the estate.

Law and order must be restored. Prisoners must know their place.