THE crisis among prison officers is “draining the lifeblood” from the prison system, an author and film-maker who spent eight months in HMP Wandsworth has said.

Chris Atkins said that figures showing prison officer experience levels were at their lowest point since 2010 were not surprising.

Last month, cross-party parliamentary group on justice chairman Grahame Morris warned that the statistics, released by the government, could lead to a “vicious cycle of violence” in British jails.

Mr Atkins, who was released from prison in 2019 after being jailed for fraud, blamed former Tory justice secretary Lord Chris Grayling for the issues that were now being seen in the prison service. 

He said he had seen experienced prison officers replaced by people half their age and that inexperienced officers are more likely to lock down prisoners, leading to fewer rehabilitation opportunities and more violence.

“These things all have some impact on the public in ways that they don’t quite see in the black and white headlines,” he said. 

“But it’s draining the lifeblood from the prison system.”

The latest figures show the cumulative length of service by current prison officers is at its lowest since the coalition government in 2010.

There were 22,067 prison officers at the end of last year, with a total experience of 213,125 years. 

In December 2010, 24,501 officers had 329,353 years of experience. 

Even when officer numbers dipped to 17,796 in 2014, those officers had 65,000 more years of experience than current staff.

The Prison Officers’ Association national chairman Mark Fairhurst said successive governments “have failed the Prison Service with their lack of investment and catastrophic staffing cuts,” saying: “More than 50 per cent of new joiners leave the job within their first two years, and we have lost over 100, 000 years in experience.”