Prisons - in brief (10)
01 March 2006
UK: Government fails to meet prison education commitments: The charity Forum on Prison Education (FPE) has warned that, a year after a damning report by a select committee on prisoner education, nothing has changed. The committee found that only a third of inmates had access to formal education, lasting on average nine hours a week, and just 31 out of 75,000 prisoners had access to the internet as a learning tool. When the report was published in 2005, the Chair of the Education Select Committee, Barry Sheerman, said the government had failed to meet its manifesto commitment to "dramatically increase the quality and quantity of education provision." Since then only four of the Select Committee's 55 recommendations have been met. In December 2005, the Adult learning Inspectorate condemned skills programmes in prisons, stating that over half of jails offered inadequate provision. Steve Taylor of FPE said "Prisoners are still punished by lower pay for taking part in education than for work. Government would close a failing school or college if improvements took this long, so why is it acceptable in prisons?" Forum on Prisoner Education website:
http://www.fpe.org.uk/
UK: "Institutional meanness" at HMP/YOI Doncaster: Doncaster, a privately-managed local prison, was condemned by HM Prisons Inspectorate following a recent inspection. The inspectorate noted that a well-managed and innovative suicide prevention programme was undermined by inadequate procedures and environment in the early stages of custody. The "first-night centre" was a wing of poorly-maintained, often dirty cells, where no support was available for newly-received prisoners. Combined with inadequate and unsafe detoxification procedures, these deficits presented significant risks to prisoner safety. There was no effective personal officer scheme, which translated into a lack of support in relation to resettlement and sentence-planning. Conditions for prisoners were found to be squalid, with many prisoners lacking pillows, adequate mattresses, toilet seats, working televisions, notice boards or places to store belongings. Some cells, especially on the young prisoners' wing, were dirty and festooned with graffiti. The inspectorate commented on the "institutional meanness" which meant no unemployment pay was available for prisoners for whom no work was available. Prisoners were made to pay to change their PIN numbers.
Report of an announced visit to HMP/YOI Doncaster, HM Prisons Inspectorate 12 April 2006