Inside Britain’s prisons: Rising violence and soaring suicide rates — RT UK

1.8.14

Inside Britain’s prisons: Rising violence and soaring suicide rates — RT UK: Khan’s comments follow figures released by The Ministry of Justice on Thursday, which revealed a marked increase in violence inside English and Welsh prisons.

Grievous assaults have soared by 30 percent, and three separate murders have occurred in the past twelve months alone. The data also reveals a stark 69 percent rise in suicides - the most dramatic since 2005.

Prison governors throughout the state have persistently warned that British jails are struggling to deal with increasingly crowded conditions, with a record prison population of over 85,000. Budgets cuts of almost 25 percent implemented over the past three years have also compounded matters, the governors’ say.

According to recent figures, almost a quarter of the UK’s 126 prisons have been issued poor performance ratings. The most recent state-monitored performance tables illustrate that the conditions inside 28 prisons are now considered to be a matter of concern. One jail, Brinsford youth prison in Staffordshire, has been categorized as a “serious concern”.