'Out of control' jails a real risk; Govt warned about huge strain.

Byline: By EXAMINER News Correspondent

THE prisons system is under "sustained and chronic" pressure which risks undermining stability and order, ministers were warned today.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Dame Anne Owers, said prisons in England and Wales are "increasingly fractious" with more inmates on longer sentences who may feel they have "little to lose".

In her annual report, she said disturbances had been contained "so far" but identified "real risks" of a loss of control in the future.

She said one in seven prisoners was now on either a life or indeterminate sentence, creating a "huge strain" on jails.

Dame Anne said the strategy for the next decade needed to learn the lessons of riots in the 1980s and 1990s.

"Otherwise there are real risks of destabilising safety and control, and of reducing opportunities for change and rehabilitation," she said.

"There have been more disturbances than last year, so far able to be contained.

"This year, too many of the most volatile of our prisons... were not judge on inspection to be sufficiently safe."

"Violence reduction procedures, in increasingly fractious prisons, are underdeveloped, and there are particular challenges in large establishments holding young people, where the use of restraint is too often a response to the need to manage behaviour safely and consistently."

She said force should be used as a "last resort" but was increasing in larger prisons under pressure of prisoner numbers.

She said: "It is of concern that use of force appears to be increasing in larger, more pressured establishments, and extreme forms of restraint are being used on some of the most vulnerable prisoners.

The 5,000 prisoners on indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs) were creating a "huge strain" on prisons.

Ministers had failed to anticipate the impact on the system of such sentences and introduced laws which were "unthought-through and unresourced".