Express & Star comment: Prison staff criminals 'scandalous'
Today’s revelations in the Express & Star concerning the state of our prisons make for decidedly grim reading.
According to an investigation by the region’s police and crime commissioners, hardened criminals are being employed as prison officers due to a failure to carry out proper background checks on applicants.
It begs the question, is it any wonder our prisons are in such a dire state?
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Over the past 12 months there have been numerous incidents of rioting in Britain’s jails. Drug abuse is rife, as is violence and vandalism.
Prison wings are flooded with contraband, including mobile phones. The fact people with links to organised crime are able to get jobs working behind bars only serves to aid corruption.
Scandalously, this perilous situation has come about due to a lack of communication between police forces and prisons, enabling gangs to put their own people in positions of authority behind bars.
According to Staffordshire PCC Matthew Ellis, who commissioned the report, the oversight enables SIM cards, phones and narcotics to be transported into prisons by staff and officials. It is not as if there is no solution at hand.
The region’s HMP Dovegate was recently the site of an information sharing trial between police forces and prisons, which swiftly helped to identify staff linked with organised crime and visitors who were trafficking drugs into the jail.
There is absolutely no reason why this policy cannot be rolled out in prisons across the country.
Of all the many failings of Theresa May’s Government, its pathetic surrender on law and order is arguably the most damning.
The vast majority of prison staff are working hard to make a positive difference in a climate that has been made almost impossible by years of policy failures.
Not only do these rogue officers make their jobs more difficult, but they give the entire profession a bad name.
Our prisons need root and branch reform. As a matter of urgency, they need to be properly staffed.
But recruitment procedures should always be stringent enough to expose any bad apples before they can do any damage. Corrupt prison officers should never be allowed to exacerbate the problems behind bars.
