NOVANEWS
British Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has admitted that prisons in England and Wales face a number of problems, including rises in violence and suicides as well as staff shortages.
Grayling acknowledged that there are rising cases of assaults by prisoners and of inmates killing themselves and that, in certain prisons, there were shortages of staff.
The justice minister, however, refused to say that there is a crisis, saying the government was adapting measures to tackle the problems.
According to official figures from the Ministry of Justice, the number of registered assaults by inmates in England and Wales increased from 14,083 in 2012-2013 to 15,033 in 2013-2014. In addition, the latest statistics have revealed a record number of “serious” assaults, including attacks on prison staff.
This is while the number of prison officers in England and Wales has been slashed by 30 percent over the past three years, from 27,650 members in September 2010 to 19,325 in the same month in 2013.
A separate report has recently revealed that in the year to March, 88 prisoners killed themselves in English and Welsh jails, up from 52 in the previous year. In addition, the report found that, since January, 44 inmates took their lives, while another 23,478 have harmed themselves.
The development comes as Grayling has come under increasing criticism over his handling of the country’s prison system.
Prison governors have earlier warned that British jails are struggling with a record prison population of more than 85,000, while the government has imposed budget cuts of almost 25 percent over the past three years.
