Tories left prisons at 'breaking point'

Ex-guard MP blames austerity for crisis

- BY ALEXANDER BROWN Assistant Political Editor

THE crisis in Britain's prisons comes from a decade of Tory austerity leaving them at "breaking point", a former prison officer-turned-MP has claimed.

Sally Jameson, who worked for five years at HMP & YOI Moorland, South Yorks, agreed the recent accidental releases were "unacceptable", but accused the Conservatives of letting the system rot for years.

Registered sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif wrongly walked free from HMP Wandsworth last week, while fraudster William Smith, known as Billy, was released from the London prison on Monday after a records mix-up.