Prisons in England have run emergency “red regimes” 22 times this year, after falling below minimum staffing levels, the Guardian has learned. One prison reported using the most restricted level of regime for inmates – traditionally “an absolute last resort” – on 15 occasions.
A red regime, described by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) as “not a sustainable position”, is reserved for periods when staff resources have fallen below the locally agreed minimum and only a basic regime can be achieved.
Experts warned this was denying prisoners access to work, the library, rehabilitation or even meals and lead toleading to a “culture of hopelessness”. Last year, a prisoner at Doncaster jail described being locked up for 23.5 hours a day with no showers under a red regime.
Swaleside prison in Kent has operated under a red regime on 15 occasions this year, while Manchester, Stocken in the east Midlands and Bristol jails have used the emergency measure twice each and Ashfield, also in Bristol, once. HMPPS said it was unable to say the duration of each red regime.
Pia Sinha, the chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “Red regimes in prisons used to be the absolute last resort. The fact that they have become routine in so many of our prisons reflects the grim reality of our prison system today. No one benefits from these regimes. They breed despair among people in prison, they lead to poor motivation and poor job satisfaction among prison staff and create a culture of hopelessness.
“Alleviating the pressure on the system and creating more headroom in the prison estate is crucial to getting regimes in prisons moving. Delivering regular, safe and decent regimes in prison is one of the best ways to ensure that people leave prisons rehabilitated. A prison that is routinely running on red will have no rehabilitation going on within its walls – it is failing people in prisons, failing staff and failing in its duties.”
HMPPS provided the data in response to a freedom of information (FoI) request from the Guardian. Asked to provide a snapshot of a single day in the prison system, the FoI revealed that a quarter of institutions were operating a severely reduced regime.
The FoI response revealed that on 7 September no prisons in England and Wales were operating a red regime but 32 of 123 were operating an amber-red regime defined as a “reduced but sustainable delivery of activities and services”. The highest level is a green regime, which is full delivery of activities and services, followed by green-amber, where the majority are delivered.
Details of the restricted regimes come amid an overcrowding crisis. The justice secretary, Alex Chalk has responded by saying the government will release thousands of prisoners up to 18 days early, attempt to return more foreign prisoners and rent prison places abroad for UK criminals.
Andrew Neilson, the director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Inadequate staffing, overcrowding, and lack of resourcing mean that people are warehoused in unsafe conditions for hours on end with nothing to do.
“Just last week, the prison population passed 88,000, the highest number ever recorded in England and Wales. These instances of red regimes are not a coincidence but the direct consequence of ever-increasing prison population figures and of a system that has been asked to do too much with too little for too long.”
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We are doing more than ever to attract and retain the best staff, including boosting salaries and launching our first-ever nationwide recruitment campaign. These efforts are working – we have hired over 4,000 additional officers since March 2017 and retention rates for prison staff are improving.”
