JAIL DRUG DEALING 'WILL RISE' UNDER LEAKED PLANS TO END CELL
CHECKS

Daily cell checks are to be scrapped under confidential plans being
drawn up by the Prison Service to save money, The Observer has learnt.

Prison officers warn the move would turn some jail wings into 'no-go'
areas because the amount of drugs and weapons in circulation inside
would soar.

In an attempt to balance its budget at a time when the prison
population is rising, the service is also considering cutting back on
the use of voluntary and mandatory drug-testing while locking
prisoners up for greater lengths of time during the day.

Prison officers claim that the proposals, which would affect all but
category A high security prisons, would mean less time spent on
rehabilitation, with the effect that reoffending rates would rise. The
plans are in an internal Prison Service letter to governors and senior
prison officers marked 'draft-restricted-management'. Leaked to The
Observer it spells out the impact of impending budget cuts on British
jails.

The letter, from Michael Spurr, the Prison Service's deputy
director-general, explains to governors and prison officers that it
has commissioned a review 'to consider cost savings' in light of the
fact it has to make some UKP60 million worth of annual cuts by 2008. The
letter says potential savings could be made by 'revising the current
arrangement for voluntary/mandatory drug testing'. The POA says it
understands the plan would be to scale back the amount of drug testing
in prisons by a minimum of 10 per cent.

'We've got a massive problem with drugs in prison,' said Brian Caton,
the POA's general secretary. 'Most offences are linked to drugs and
yet now they're proposing these cutbacks. These cuts are putting
society further at risk.'

Drugs in prison sell for around five times their normal street value
due to their scarcity. Prison officers fear reducing testing would
give a green light to criminal gangs seeking to control the supply of
drugs in prisons.

Another controversial proposal is to scrap daily 'cell fabric tests'
in which officers examine every part of a cell to ensure it is secure.
The inquiry into the murder of the teenager, Zahid Mubarek, at Feltham
young offenders institution, recommended such checks should take place
on a daily basis as they allow officers to keep an eye on prisoners,
check for drugs and weapons and make sure the cells are safe.

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show a rise of 541 per cent
in reports of prisoner-on-prisoner violence over the past 10 years. In
1996 there were 1,791 incidents in British prisons; by 2006 that
figure was 11,476.

'These shocking figures reveal how a decade of Labour mismanagement
has left our prisons in crisis and the public at risk,' said Liberal
Democrat shadow justice secretary, David Heath.

The Prison Service letter also talks about introducing a 'standardised
core day' across the prison estate. The POA says this would mean
prisoners locked inside their cells between lunch and dinner, reducing
the time they have to take part in classes and skills workshops - key
elements of rehabilitation.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice confirmed the letter's
authenticity. 'As Michael Spurr made clear in his letters to unions
and area managers, this work is being undertaken to inform planning
discussions,' she said. 'It is a management exercise and at this stage
there is no proposal to change existing arrangements in
establishments.'