Government warned over prison overcrowding as suicides soar

‘Violent and drug-ridden’ HMP Bristol becomes latest prison to be given urgent notification over failings

HMP Bristol was issued with a previous urgent notification in 2019 but has worsened (Getty Images)

The prisons watchdog has warned the government over the dangers of record overcrowding in British jails, as suicides and violence soar.

Charlie Taylor, HM chief inspector of prisons, wrote to the justice secretary announcing an urgent notification for “violent and drug-ridden” HMP Bristol, following a wave of death and disorder.

He warned that the dangerous situation could be seen at other British jails, with serious consequences for public safety, unless the government tackles overcrowding, short-staffing and decaying facilities.

“The challenges facing Bristol can be seen in other jails across England and Wales, albeit thankfully to a lesser extent,” Mr Taylor said.

“Our concern is that, with rising population pressures and increasingly stretched resources, more and more prisons are going to start to struggle.”

Suicides have rocketed by 26 per cent in a year in jails across England and Wales, with 88 prisoners taking their own lives in the 12 months to March.

Self-harm incidents were up 11 per cent, assaults rose by the same figure and serious prisoner-on-prisoner attacks jumped by a third, according to Ministry of Justice figures.

HMP Bristol is the 10th prison to be given an urgent notification since 2018, with the step last taken for HMP Exeter in November over high rates of suicide, self-harm and inadequate care for inmates.

The latest official figures show that 86,500 people are imprisoned in England and Wales, just 900 below the “useable operational capacity”.

“The situation in many prisons is concerning and we need to see resolute support from the centre over the coming months to every prison and governor if we’re to avoid seeing more prisons in the desperate state that Bristol is in,” Mr Taylor warned.

“We cannot end up in a situation where men are simply warehoused in appalling conditions, with real risk of harm not only to them, but also to the public on their release if their rehabilitation is not being supported during their time in custody.”

The government announced an emergency plan to use 400 police cells as overflow in December, but it has not stopped numbers climbing rapidly, and a new prison in Leicestershire will take months to reach full capacity.

It has been building 1,000 portable cabins - officially called Rapid Deployment Cells - in a bid to ease overcrowding, while doubling inmates up in cells and accelerating moves into open prisons.

Two inmates have been crammed into Victorian cells designed for one person at HMP Bristol, with many locked up for 22 hours a day and not receiving “any kind of regime” to rehabilitate them.

“The prison was violent and riddled with drugs, some of which were delivered by drones to prisoners through cell windows from which they had removed the glass under the noses of prison officers,” a HM Inspectorate of Prisons report said.

“Despite the obvious effects of overcrowding, the capacity of the prison had actually been increased on several occasions since the last inspection.”

The watchdog said seven prisoners had killed themselves in just 10 months, while a man had been charged with murdering his cellmate.

Ellie Reeves, Labour’s shadow prisons minister, said: “After 13 years of Tory chaos and neglect, our prison system is on its knees. Record levels of overcrowding, violence and drugs in prisons is not stopping crime, it’s creating it.”

Self-harm in prisons in England and Wales has been rising again after a dip during the Covid pandemic (Ministry of Justice)

The Howard League for Penal Reform questioned why Bristol did not improve after a previous urgent notification in 2019, saying the situation was a “crushing indictment of a system that has been asked to do too much, with too little, for too long”.

Chief executive Andrea Coomber KC added: “With the prison population in England and Wales having risen by more than 4,000 since the beginning of the year, putting jails under enormous pressure, the logical question might be: ‘Where next?’

“Sensible steps to reduce prison numbers would save lives, protect staff and help more people to move on from crime.”

The Prison Reform Trust said the state of HMP Bristol was symptomatic of a “chronically overburdened system”, calling for the government to urgently look at alternatives to short sentences and cut down the record number of people in jail awaiting trial.

Prisons minister Damian Hinds said the government would take urgent action to “turn HMP Bristol around” and would be publishing a plan setting out measures.

The Ministry of Justice said staff were trained in suicide and self-harm prevention, and vulnerable prisoners have access to care and mental health services.

“While the rate of staff assaults has decreased, we will continue to ensure our hardworking staff are protected through our £100m security investment, delivery of X-ray body scanners, specialist prison dogs and body-worn cameras,” a statement added.

The department said the rate of violent assaults was still lower than before the Covid pandemic and that it was working to increase staffing levels in jails.