Birmingham’s prison scandal reopens arguments about privatisation
LONG inured to the squalor and violence of Britain’s prisons, Peter Clarke was still shocked by what he found in Birmingham on a visit in early August. The government’s chief inspector of prisons observed filthy common areas with rubbish piling up; fleas, cockroaches and rats; blood and vomit left overnight; and cramped cells “not fit for habitation”. Some prisoners refused to emerge from their cells for fear of violence. His inspection team’s own cars were torched in a supposedly secure car park. On one occasion Mr Clarke was so overcome by the smell of drugs that he had to leave one of the wings. Overall, it was the worst prison he had ever seen.
Consequently, on August 20th the Ministry of Justice announced that it was taking back control of the jail from G4S, the private company that had run it since 2011. The crisis in Birmingham highlights the chronic problems afflicting much of the country’s crumbling prison estate. It has...