Performance at Wandsworth Prison was deemed to be of “serious concern” before the escape
Andsworth Prison’s performance has been classified as a “serious concern” and watchdogs had issued a series of warnings about the prison last year before a former soldier accused of terrorism escaped undetected.
The Category B Men’s Reception and Resettlement Prison, which opened in 1851, is one of just nine of 119 prisons in England and Wales whose performance has recently been called into question.
Governor Katie Price runs the Victorian prison, which houses around 1,600 defendants in London courts and offenders due for release in five wings.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor warned that staff shortages were “the source of many problems” at HMP Wandsworth.
While it is “worrying when someone escapes from prison” and this is “now very rare,” the nature of the allegations against Daniel Abed Khalife makes this case “extremely worrying,” he added.
It is believed the 21-year-old escaped by strapping himself to the floor of a van after leaving the prison kitchen in a chef’s uniform.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Taylor said it should be “standard practice” for vehicles entering and leaving prison to be checked and that a prisoner must acquire a “certain level of confidence” to work in a kitchen to be allowed .
Prisons have two gates through which you can access the so-called “sterile” area for vehicles entering and exiting.
Inmates are not allowed into these areas and there are “strict rules” as to which gates can be opened. Both gates may not be opened at the same time.
Standard security measures include retransmission of CCTV surveillance footage to a control room, but also mirrors on a roll running under and on vehicles.
Mr Taylor said: “Something has obviously gone wrong in terms of safety and time will tell.”
“But the issue we are particularly concerned about is that there are too many prisoners at Wandsworth for the amount of staff there. And that’s ultimately the cause of a lot of the problems in the prison.”
In the annual prison performance assessments for 2022/23 published in July, Wandsworth was among nine people identified as a “serious problem”.
The overall performance score, based on a range of measures including security, rehabilitation and training and expressed as a 100% proportion, was 46.4% – one of the lowest of all 119 prisons.
Wandsworth received the same rating of “serious concern” in 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.
Both Mr Taylor and the prison’s Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) raised concerns about staffing levels, among other things, in reports published last year.
In July 2022, Mr Taylor warned that the prison did not have enough body-worn cameras for all staff on duty, stressing that there had been several recent leadership changes.
Inspectors described “very poor” living conditions with “heaps of rubbish” and said levels of violence had increased since previous inspections.
The IMB said a “staffing crisis” and “deteriorating” Victorian buildings were “at the core” of the prison’s problems.
Significant personnel problems affect the implementation of a uniform regulation
In findings published in September 2022, the panel, made up of volunteers appointed by ministers to investigate prison conditions, highlighted the “negative impact” of staff shortages and “wholly inadequate physical condition”.
The IMB said: “Significant staffing problems are affecting the implementation of a uniform regime.”
Although “technically fully staffed,” more than 30% of staff are “regularly unavailable for various reasons,” sometimes rising to over 40%, according to the findings.
The “recruitment, training and retention” of qualified and well-motivated staff is “vital” given the increase in “volatile young prisoners” and an “alarming” level of violence, but the board said it was “very concerned that this is not happening.” “. .
Tim Aikens, Chairman of the prison’s IMF, said at the time: “The Board once again expresses its concern at conditions at HMP Wandsworth, whose Victorian buildings represent a major investment long overdue.”
“Given depleted staffing levels, degrading living conditions and high mental health needs, the increasing levels of violence are both unsurprising and deeply worrying.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/katie-price-prisons-london-wales-england-b1105510.html Performance at Wandsworth Prison was deemed to be of “serious concern” before the escape
