A report from the Centre for Crime & Justice Studies (https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/voices-inside ) on condition in prisons

Reasons for linking to this report

– it relies on testimonies from individuals – one by one

– it is a case study in what systematic inhumanity produces, both in prisoners and prison officers

I, Julia Evans, have categorised it under

its author’s name, Rona Epstein,

&

Case Studies, see d) from Other Fields (1 A Lacanian Clinic/A Case Studies/i) Of Analysis)

&

  1. b) Learned Helplessness (1 A Lacanian Clinic/B From the Clinic) ‘Learned helplessness’ as the conditions mimic this condition,

&

Use of Power (2 Engagement with Beyond), which should be retitled use of top-down abusive power.

My response to this horrific report is to circulate it as widely as possible.

JE

The report link is https://issuu.com/voicesfromtheinside/docs/voices_from_the_inside_rona_epstein There follows information from the Centre for Crime & Justice Studies website, downloaded on 23rd December 2024.

***

Voices from the inside

By

Rona Epstein

Thursday, 14 November 2024

On 5th December 2023, at a meeting organised by Wandsworth Quakers, the former Quaker chaplain to Wandsworth Prison, Liz Bridge, spoke out loud and clear about the dreadful conditions she found while working there. Her account has had a ripple effect.

Like everyone else in the room, I was shocked and horrified by what Liz Bridge reported. This was even though I had read the Independent Monitoring Board’s report (https://imb.org.uk/news/unsafe-and-inhumane-conditions-at-hmp-wandsworth/) on HMP Wandsworth.

After the talk, most of the attendees gathered for an animated discussion in an atmosphere of palpable shock and horror.

One person asked:

Where is the voice of the prisoners and the prisoners’ families?

A woman in the audience replied:

We are the voice of the prisoners’ families; we have sons in that prison and are here to talk to anyone who wants to talk to us.

I will call them ‘Ann’ and ‘Jodie’. On 18 December 2023, Ann, Jodie and I met with Martine Lignon – a Trustee of the Prisoners’ Advice Service. The four of us sat down together, they to talk, Martine and myself to listen, and record.

They gave us a direct, personal, powerful and shocking testimony about the conditions experienced by two young men – their sons – detained in HMP Wandsworth on remand, awaiting sentence. One of them is particularly vulnerable. The two prisoners phoned their mothers from the prison during our interview; we recorded their voices and testimony.

Apart from dirt, vermin, toilets in the cells which frequently overflow, inadequate food, far too little time spent out of the cell and almost 50% of prison officers absent each day (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/15/daniel-khalife-prison-escape-keith-bristow-nca-to-investigate), the prison suffers very serious overcrowding. Wandsworth was built for 900 men; it now houses 1,600, of whom 45% are on remand.

A recent report by the Prison Inspectorate of the women’s prison HMP Eastwood Park also proved profoundly shocking. It reported mentally ill women held in cells with blood spattered walls (https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-02-03/women-held-in-appalling-prison-conditions-with-blood-splattered-cells) – the blood being left uncleaned after self-harming incidents by previous prisoners.

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, wrote:

Some of the most vulnerable women across the prison estate were held in an environment wholly unsuitable for their therapeutic needs.

The levels of distress we observed were appalling. No prisoner should be held in such terrible conditions.

Our project, ‘VOICES FROM THE INSIDE’, meant to hear the views and report on the experiences of current prisoners and of those recently released from men’s and women’s prisons, as well as convey the reflections of their relatives and friends.

These first-hand, personal testimonies, together with Liz Bridge’s reflections, are now published in our Report, edited by Rebecca Grant.

These voices should be heard and noted. Our report is accessible here. https://issuu.com/voicesfromtheinside/docs/voices_from_the_inside_rona_epstein