THE escape from Wandsworth prison is a timely reminder of how far the criminal justice system has fallen.

The Prison Officers Association at this year’s TUC Congress in Liverpool will be calling for a royal commission into the whole criminal justice system from probation, courts, policing and prisons.

There seems to be much more interest in prisons among the public, press and politicians since some high-profile incidents — and that can only be a good thing in getting our message across regarding the savage cuts that our service has endured since the austerity cuts which we have not recovered from.

For far too long, the reality of living and working behind bars has been hidden by the high walls and huge gates my members pass through every day to keep their communities safe.

Out of sight, out of mind, so the saying goes. But the pandemic threw a spotlight on the state of our jails and gave people a taste of life under lockdown.

Political parties are showing an avid interest

Politicians, too, are speaking up more. As the Tories trash their reputation as the “party of law and order” — exposing themselves as one of crime and chaos instead — Labour and the other opposition parties have tried to fill the vacuum.

But politicians of all parties need to stop the point scoring in respect of prisons and the criminal justice system in general. We urgently need a root and branch review. 

Prisons are in a state of emergency and the POA again calls for a royal commission on prisons and the wider criminal justice system.

The need for a public inquiry into prisons and the wider criminal justice system

Such a public inquiry has been POA policy since 2016 and indeed pledged in the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto — and I believe it is both urgently needed and entirely appropriate as POA members continue to protect the general public even although our criminal justice system is in disarray from years of cuts in the name of austerity. 

Our criminal justice system is broken, from a decade of court closures causing unbearable backlogs to a failed privatisation experiment destroying a once-world-class probation service.

But it is in our prisons where savage budget cuts and government negligence and neglect have caused the most damage and created the most danger — both to those inside them and to society at large.

Academies of crime

Prisons have become academies of crime, with a toxic cocktail of squalid overcrowding, soaring violence and desperation among prisoners, cared for by increasingly inexperienced staff being left to their own devices without adequate training.

All too often our newer staff become demoralised and leave the service as quickly as they had joined.

That is no reflection on those staff, many of whom are POA members, but a sad indictment on employer and government officials in not protecting their interests from day one.

Since 2010, over 100,000 years of cumulative prison officer experience have been lost — that’s 100,000 years of jail craft flushed away with no justification other than to save money and cheapen the terms and conditions of new entrants who then cannot rely on the experience to assist them in their early years.

What is the purpose of prisons?

We need to ask fundamental questions such as what is the point of prisons — to punish or to rehabilitate?

Most prisoners are eventually released, but what kind of condition do we want them to leave in?

Do we want them leaving prison more criminalised and traumatised than when they arrived — and see wider society then pay the price?

Because if not, the government needs to give back the money it took from the prison service in the name of austerity and fix the crisis this created.

When questioned on the delay to their promised public inquiry, ministers blame Covid and imply it’s now unnecessary because of the great improvements they claim to be making.

But this is nonsense — the pandemic has made a royal commission more important than ever, as prisons are still reeling from restricted regimes and violence is still rising, despite all the empty promises made in the government’s impotent strategy papers.

Which voices are to be heard?

Of course, the POA would want the critical role played by prison staff to be at the heart of this investigation, but it is important that all voices are heard for the commission to paint a full picture.

Prisoners, ex-prisoners, victims, charities, campaigners and the general public — as well as the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service officials and the numerous corporate bodies currently profiting from incarceration — should all be invited to give evidence and help shape the future of a fairer and fully functioning justice system.

This is too important for political posturing — justice is foundational to a civilised society and simply cannot be delivered on the cheap.

Yet governments treat this vital public service like a second-class citizen — never protected from austerity cuts, bloated with overpromoted managers and suffering from a higher turnover of secretaries of state than staff on the front line.

Fixing society and our prisons

You can’t fix society until you fix society’s prisons. And the most effective way to do that is through a full public inquiry with maximum statutory powers.

As a bare minimum, we need a properly funded prison system that encourages recruitment and retention of front-line staff.

We need a just pension age for prison officers and related grades given the physicality of the job and the violence my members face daily, because 68 is simply too late.

Restoring the right to strike

We need pay that addresses the cost-of-living crisis and a government that will right the wrongs of the last 30 years of restricting my members’ basic rights by being banned from taking any form of industrial action.

If the Scottish government can restore the right to strike for POA members in Scotland without the sky falling in then the same can and should be achieved in the England/Wales service and Northern Ireland.

I applaud the Scottish government for restoring a fundamental human right and the Westminster government have much to learn from an administration in Scotland who listened to the POA and delivered.

A new deal for POA members

And we need a new deal for working people that includes sectoral collective bargaining, so workers can’t be pitted against each other in a race to the bottom for pay, terms and conditions.

With one voice, the POA calls for a fresh look at our prison estate. We’re willing to play our part to build a better prison service — we just need a government brave enough to enact a royal commission, hold that public inquiry and have a criminal justice system and prison service that we can be proud of in the future, that protects victims of crime and the general public but at the same time recognises the professionalism of the role that prison officer grades and operational support grades play, the outstanding work that they do on behalf of society and rewards them through pay and decent terms and conditions for that work.

Steve Gillan is general secretary of the Prison Officers Association.