Justice Secretary Liz Truss admits UK prisons are at ‘breaking point’ as she unveils £100m scheme to tackle violence and drugs in bid to clean up system
Justice Secretary to announce state takeover of hectic jails as she admits chaos in prisons threatens to delay planned prison reforms to recruit 2,500 more wardens
JUSTICE Secretary Liz Truss will unveil radical new powers for the state to take over the running of jails mired by violence as she admits: "prisons are at breaking point".
In a startling statement, the Tory chief will reverse years of austerity by announcing plans to splash out £100 million to recruit 2,500 more prison officers.
And she will admit that a “toxic cocktail” of drugs and violence “flooding our prisons” is threatening to delay reforms promised by former PM David Cameron and former Justice chief Michael Gove.
Unveiling a long-awaited White Paper on reform she will say the safety of guards and lags is being “imperilled” by the chaos behind prison walls.
As part of a series of proposals, the Justice Secretary will say she plans to intervene and sack Governors when prisons fail.
The Government already has the power to takeover local authorities – and sent in commissioners to run Rotherham after the child sex abuse scandal.
New league tables measuring everything from violence to an offenders’ progress at English and Maths will rank jails across England and Wales will rank prisons.
As revealed by the Sun yesterday all lags will also be tested for drugs on their way into prison – and when they leave – to see which Governors are helping them kick their addiction.
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In a Commons speech Ms Truss will say: “Prisons need to be more than places of containment – they must be places of discipline, hard work and self-improvement.
“They must be places where offenders get off drugs and get the education and skills they need to find work and turn back on crime for good.”
The White Paper follows crunch talks yesterday between Ms Truss and prison officer union chiefs demanding more help for over-stretched staff.
Shock figures last week revealed assaults on prison staff soared 43 per cent last year to 5,954.
Sources last night insisted Michael Gove’s wave of far-reaching reforms were not being put on the backburner.
The former big-hitter outlined plans to slash re-offending rates by encouraging ‘earned release’ where prisoners could earn their freedom by attending English and Maths lessons – or workshop programmes.
He also wanted to give Governors far more autonomy over setting their own budgets or jailhouse education courses. He separately wanted to sell off older inner-city jails to release cash for new state-of-the-art prisons.
Ms Truss will today announce the HMP Wellingborough in Northants will be the first site to be earmarked for “potential redevelopment”.