Prisons chief rounds on Archer for 'exaggerated' diary claims

The head of the Prison Service, Martin Narey, has accused the novelist Jeffrey Archer of being "self-centred" and of using his diaries to exaggerate the state of prison conditions.

In an unprecedented attack on an individual prisoner, the prisons chief questioned the motives of the disgraced peer who is expected to receive more than £300,000 from his chronicle of life as an inmate in Belmarsh prison, south London.

This is Mr Narey's first personal response to Archer's lurid account of prison life, which includes details of drug taking among prisoners and beatings by officers.

"All the world seemed to be interested in was the self-centred writings of one prisoner who, relative amongst the population, has very few problems, no dependency, and who will go out and lead a contented and affluent life," said Mr Narey told The Independent on Sunday.

Royalties from the book will be paid into a trust fund for Archer until he leaves prison but Mr Narey said the money should be paid directly to the Prison Reform Trust which campaigns for the rights of prisoners.

The decision by Archer to publish his diaries while still in prison has been widely condemned by MPs and prison officials.

Copies of Belmarsh: Hell went on sale last Thursday and were preceded by a widely publicised serialisation in the Daily Mail.

On the same day Archer was hauled before Dick Peacock, the governor of Lincoln prison, and warned that any further breach of prison rules would result in his prison pay being docked.

The peer admitted breaking prison rules by naming fellow inmates in the book. Prison officials told him that he would lose his right to remain in open conditions if he published more volumes while in prison.

Archer is still being investigated for attending a champagne party hosted by Gillian Shephard, a former Tory minister. Mr Narey said the impact of the millionaire's disregard for prison rules had been "destructive".

"What I've sought to do is to ensure our staff are treating him like any other prisoner. That has caused me to defend our action against two camps, those who think we have been too soft and those who think we have been too hard."

In Mr Narey's opinion, the Tory peer has magnified the problem of drug use and dealing in prison. "I'm fully aware of the problem of drugs in prison although Lord Archer has failed to recognise that situation has improved," Mr Narey said.

"He says blithely every child sitting on a father's knee has drugs in their nappy, or some nonsense. What are we to do? Are we to say that no father [in prison] can ever have a child on his knee again? Some of the observations he makes are entirely valid but I'm not entirely convinced they have been made for the right reasons."

In his account of prison life, Archer reveals that prison conditions nearly drove him to suicide. However, Mr Narey said he was "really angry" that the plight of vulnerable young prisoners had been overshadowed by the serialisation of the diaries.

"Last Sunday morning in Park prison, in Wales, a 17-year-old boy hanged himself and no one in the world apart from his parents paid any attention to that at all," Mr Narey said. "That's the story – the 76th person to kill himself in prison this year."

Lady Archer has accused prison officials of treating her husband unfairly and of failing to communicate with her. Mr Narey revealed he had written to Lady Archer but said her husband would be given the same treatment as any other prisoner.

"There are 72,600 prisoners," he said. " It's surprising that Lady Archer would think I'd be able to find the time to talk to her individually. The expectation that I can make a special case for Lord Archer is preposterous."

Mr Narey said Archer had completely overlooked attempts made by the Prison Service to educate prisoners who have poor reading and writing skills.

"I believe passionately that prison can be a life-changing experience," he said. "The area where we have made the greatest difference is in making prisoners employable."

The number of prisoners who leave to go on to a job or training has risen from 10 per cent in 1996 to 27 per cent last year. More than 60,000 inmates last year left with new qualifications, from basic-level literacy to degrees.

Mr Narey said education was crucial to rehabilitating prisoners who did not reoffend. Prisons should be seen as "residential secure colleges".