Prison staff crisis ‘draining lifeblood’ from the system

THE crisis among prison officers is “draining the lifeblood” from the prison system, an author and filmmaker who spent eight months in jail has said.

- Chris Atkins, who has written

two books about his experience at the prison in south London, said he was not surprised at figures which showed prison officer experience levels were at their lowest point since 2010.

Last month Labour MP Grahame Morris, who chairs a cross-parliamentary group on justice warned that the statistics, released by the Government, could lead to a “vicious cycle of violence” in British jails.

Mr Atkins, who was released from prison in 2019 after being jailed for fraud, blamed former Tory justice secretary Lord Chris Grayling for the issues that were now being seen in the prison service. He said it had seen experienced prison officers replaced by people half their age.