8th September 2006

 
Incidents of inmates harming themselves at Eastwood Park, a Gloucestershire jail remain "extremely high", according to the Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Cowers. A report of an unannounced follow-up inspection this week found rates of self-harm averaged 65 cases a week last year.

It concluded that the challenges facing the prison for women, young offenders and juveniles as young as 10 remained "immense", although efforts being made by staff to tackle them were to be "applauded".

Cllr Philip Booth, a Gloucestershire Green party spokesperson said: "This report has many areas of concern, particularly the high rates of self-harm. There has been no systematic review of previous deaths in custody to establish any common factors that needed to be addressed. 58 per cent of women said they had experienced bullying. Plus the juvenile unit was not yet able to manage the very challenging behaviour of some of the girls held."

Philip Booth, who 20 years ago spent 6 months working as a Probation Officer as part of his Social Work training, said: "Inspectors also found levels of activity for inmates had dropped since the last inspection, with only a quarter of women 'purposefully engaged'. This is compared with 40 per cent at the time of the last inspection. This is worrying as such inactivity can lead to many other problems like increased suicide rates. It is vital this is addressed urgently."
 

Green approach

Philip Booth said: "Britain has the highest prison rate in Europeand our current rates are some of the highest ever experienced in our struggling prisons. This system is not working. Prisons have an important role but many petty offenders should be in mental health or drug treatment programmes. Sentences are getting harsher and much longer, with the political climate being much more punitive yet this is not making us safer'. 58% of prisoners and two-thirds of young offenders reoffend within 2 years of release."

Philip Booth said: "One key policy to address this is 'Restorative justice'. This is where criminals face their victims in truth and reconciliation sessions and undertake some form of 'pay back'. In UK trials, 90% of victims felt helped by this process, and in Australian studies, violent criminals were 50% less likely to re-offend. Where prison is the only option sentencing should be in keeping with the offence and include rehabilitation. It is pointless spending huge amounts of tax on prosecution and £40,000 a year on imprisonment if you are just going to release people into an even more hopeless world, with fewer prospects than when they were sentenced."