The justice system is on the verge of “total gridlock” (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)
Prisons are out of control with violence increasing and drug use rampant, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been warned. Managers are focused on averting disaster instead of rehabilitating inmates, putting the public at risk.
And a lack of prison places means the criminal justice system is on the verge of “total gridlock”, with crown courts forced to delay serious trials which could result on a jail sentence. The warning came in a damning report from the House of Commons Public Affairs Committee, which said: “Failure to increase prison capacity in line with demand has led to a prison estate in crisis.”
Prisons are “severely overcrowded” after plans to deliver 20,000 additional prison places in England and Wales by the mid–2020s were delayed until 2031, creating a powder-keg which officers struggle to control. There were a record 10,496 assaults in prison staff recorded in the 12 months to September 2024, up by 19% on the year previously.
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The Committee warned: “A quarter of prisoners are doubled up in cells designed for one person. Greater crowding is linked to higher rates of violence and self–harm–the rate of assaults, such as fights between prisoners and attacks on staff, increased significantly.”
It said: “Education and drug treatment are essential to rehabilitating offenders. However, crowding and a lack of headroom in the estate creates barriers to prisoners accessing education and makes it difficult for the Prison and Probation Service to tackle high levels of drug usage in prison.”
The MPs heard evidence from the prison inspections service which warned the prevalence of drugs and violence in prisons was a “growing concern”.
Drones are begin used to deliver drugs to prisoners, with old-fashioned windows and poor surveillance systems hindering efforts to tackle the problem.
The Ministry of Justice has responded to overcrowding by releasing some prisoners earlier than previously planned but MPs said it must ensure that plans to build more places went ahead.
They warned: “If prisons reach full capacity, there would be significant impacts on the wider criminal justice system. For example, courts would not be able to try cases where suspects may be given prison sentences.”
Committee chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: “Lives are being put at increasing risk by the Government’s historic failures to increase capacity. Despite the recent emergency release of thousands of prisoners, the system still faces total gridlock in a matter of months.”