Lancashire prisons at the centre of overcrowding crisis
PLUS: Cuts at Lancaster University under scrutiny
Hello and welcome to The Lancashire Lead.
Today we report on how overcrowding in prisons - an issue very much on the national agenda - is affecting prisons in Lancashire.
All of that comes as plans for Ulnes Walton to get a third prison - dubbed a super-prison by some - are all but confirmed to go ahead.
But drug use and behavioural issues in prisons across the North West are rife and that’s the issue we examine today.
We also look at plans to cut 400 jobs from Lancaster University - broadly considered one of the best in the world but not immune from pressures facing the higher education sector.
By Simon Drury
Lancashire is at the centre of a crisis threatening the safety of prisoners as the pressure on the North West's overcrowded jails continues to increase.
Illegal drugs, understaffing and overcrowding has left Lancashire's prison estate at flashpoint.
In his latest report, Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, had demanded the Government help to clampdown on the amount of illegal drugs being brought into prisons.
He said the prison service, police and security services must work closer together to tackle organised criminal gangs who are delivering drugs to prisons, including all of Lancashire and Greater Manchester's prisons.
Taylor says the problem of drugs is increasing year by year in North West prisons helping to destabilise jails and prevent staff delivering rehabilitation projects to help prevent reoffending.
His damning comments come after The Lancashire Lead revealed this month that HMP Garth - near Leyland - has so many drones delivering drugs to inmates that prisoners have dubbed it 'the airport'.
Garth has a population of 800 prisoners, many convicted of violent or sexual offences.
A report by HM Inspectors of Prisons last year revealed that 'drones and drugs flowing into the prison' were a major threat to safety.
This month, a follow up report has revealed the problem is worse than ever
In his report, Taylor says far too little was being done to keep drugs out of jails, too many prisoners said it was easy to get hold of them, and the rate of positive random tests frequently reached more than 30 per cent.
In the six months before the Inspectorate returned to one category C prison, a staggering 59 per cent of randomly selected prisoners had tested positive for illicit drug use.
Physical security such as netting, windows and CCTV was inadequate and inexperienced staff were being manipulated or simply ignored by prisoners.
The failure to tackle these security issues seriously compromised safety and represented a threat to national security.
One prisoner - who served a two year sentence for burglary at Garth - said overcrowding, staff shortages and drugs had transformed the prison into a powder keg.
He said: "During my time inside, the prison seemed to get more dangerous by the day.
"We were locked up most of the day with no work to do and drugs became more important to everyday survival, helping you cope with the boredom.
"But with the drugs came more violence and the staff were so overstretched they were unable to cope. They won't be able to keep a lid on it forever. Sooner or later the place will explode."
Taylor’s comments come at a time of intense scrutiny of prisons.
The Government’s early release schemes have only temporarily alleviated the capacity crisis and longer-term change following the Sentencing Review will take time.
High-profile attacks on staff have prompted calls for more protection, and problems with the conduct and capability of officers have raised questions about staff recruitment and experience.
Nationally, assaults on staff were 13 per cent higher than the previous year, while those between prisoners had risen by 10 per cent.
Overcrowding, coupled with a lack of activity, caused boredom and frustration among prisoners, which heightened the demand for drugs.
Many spent most of the day in cramped, shared cells, where broken furniture and windows, and infestations of vermin, were common. Of the 38 men’s and women’s prisons inspected, 28 were delivering poor or not sufficiently good outcomes in purposeful activity.
Six of those rated poor were category C training prisons, which should have been providing prisoners with the skills they needed to resettle successfully in the community.
Education and work were not good enough in about three-quarters of men’s and women’s prisons, and many prisoners could not get onto the courses prescribed in their sentence plans.
In many jails there was too little interaction with staff, which added to prisoners’ frustration and contributed to poor behaviour. Prisoners often struggled to get busy or inexperienced officers to help them with simple requests, leading to ain Increase in violence and self-harm.
Taylor said: "This has been another very difficult year for all those living and working in prisons in England and Wales.
"I cannot overstate my concern about the rapid and widespread ingress of illicit drugs, which is severely impacting the essential work of staff in reducing the risk of prisoners’ reoffending.
"Only when the prison service is able to keep drugs out of jails so that staff can focus on getting prisoners involved in genuinely purposeful activity, can we expect to see them play a meaningful role in rehabilitating, rather than simply warehousing, the men and women they hold."
And the problem of illegal drugs is not confined to high security prisons such as Garth.
HMP Kirkham - which is an open prison near Lytham and St Annes, recently recorded the highest number of positive drug tests in the open estate with a quarter of inmates using illegal narcotics.
During a visit earlier this year, inspectors said most areas of the prison smelt of cannabis.
A lack of experienced staff meant there were fewer temporary release opportunities available for eligible prisoners meaning they were unable to maintain contacts with families or take up work placements.
A new £10m gym was rarely busy and exercise sessions were often cancelled. An outdoor football pitch is virtually unused.
The inspection report revealed: "These were wasted opportunities to help prisoners stay fit and off drugs. Although there was a good range of work in the jail and men could work in the market garden or look after the cattle and pigs, swathes of the extensive grounds were not in use, and there were limited other enrichment activities available.
"Men lived in aging billets, some with black mould on the walls and ceilings, and were overwhelmingly negative about their experiences with prison staff, describing them as rude and uncaring.
"Kirkham had been severely impacted by the various strategies to alleviate population pressures across the prison estate. In 2023, it had received a large influx of around 400 category C prisoners, more than the number for all other open men’s prisons combined.
“These men were not always prepared for open conditions and did not qualify for ROTL.
“There was poor preparation for the release of higher risk prisoners, and dysfunctionality between different departments in the jail meant that bureaucratic processes were slowing prisoners’ progression."
Meanwhile, Preston Prison has been named as 'overcrowded' by HM Inspectorate of Prisons.
Category C Hindley Prison - which has a capacity of 400 - was found to be seriously overcrowded when officers visited last year.
A large number of inmates have links with organised crime and inspectors said: "Many prisoners continued to live in poor, overcrowded accommodation. While levels of violence had reduced, there had been a worrying rise in self-harm.
"Illicit drug use remained a very serious problem, with 59 per cent of prisoners testing positive for illicit substances in the six months before the review and in one month, as many as 77 per cent of random tests were positive."
The Howard League for Penal Reform says on every given day prisons in England and Wales are in danger of reaching full capacity.
In March, there were fewer than 80,000 prison places but the number of inmates stood at nearly 88,000 and was rising daily.
The situation has become so severe that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has resorted to emergency measures to ease pressure on the system.
In October 2023, the MoJ introduced a scheme that allowed some people to be released from prison up to 18 days early under supervision. In March 2024, the scheme was extended to enable releases up to 60 days early. In May 2024, it was extended again, to allow for releases up to 70 days early.
After Labour came to power in July 2024, the new Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, announced that the early release scheme would end. Instead, she announced that the government would temporarily reduce the proportion of custodial sentences served in prison from 50 per cent to 40 per cent, a policy measure that had been recommended by the Prison Governors’ Association. This scheme began in September 2024.
Mahmood said: “There is now only one way to avert disaster.”
A spokesperson for the Howard League said: "When a prison is asked to accommodate more people than it is designed to hold, it piles more pressure on people working there and makes it harder to meet the needs of people living there.
"If someone is sent to prison, we should do all that we can to help them to turn their life around and move on from crime. But overcrowding, coupled with chronic staff shortages, makes it more difficult for prisons to engage everyone in activities that help rehabilitation, such as exercise, education, employment and training.
"For many people, this means being locked in an overcrowded cell for 23 hours a day with nothing to do, at a time when the physical state of prisons is getting worse.
"The prison population has almost doubled in the last 30 years. After a rapid increase in the 1990s and 2000s, it began to stabilise in the 2010s and decreased slightly during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has since risen again to reach record heights.
"This is not a response to rising crime – in fact, recorded crime has fallen – but a sign of how changes in sentencing policy, led by politicians, have had a dramatic impact. Prison sentences have been handed down more and more, and they have gotten longer and longer over time."
Meanwhile, the blueprint for a jail on the border of Chorley and Leyland faced opposition amid fears local roads would not be able to cope. It is planned for Ulnes Walton close to HMP Garth and HMP Wymott.
The four-year battle to block construction of a 1,715-inmate jail in Ulnes Walton ended at the High Court with a judge’s decision not to grant locals leave to appeal against the controversial development.
Residents were told a third prison in their village will definitely be built after a last-ditch legal challenge to the plans failed.
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Lancaster University plans to cut 400 jobs under the microscope
By Robbie Macdonald
Lancaster University plans to cut over 400 jobs were discussed by city councillors, with questions around contrasting views about the financial causes and solutions given by university managers and a staff trade union, access to financial information and a potential strike this September.
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