"Prisons chief threatens to resign" 

     'I've had enough of trying to explain the very immorality
     of our treatment of some prisoners and degradation of
     some establishments' (Martin Narey, director-general
     of the Prison Service) 

     By Ian Burrell, Home Affairs Correspondent 

     6 February 2001

     The Director General of the Prison Service threatened
     to resign yesterday unless his staff backed him in
     transforming "hell hole" jails and ending a "litany of
     failure and moral neglect" in the prisons of England and
     Wales. 

     Using unprecedented language for the head of the jails
     system, Martin Narey accused prison staff of "a betrayal
     of the most base kind of our duty to those in our care".
     In his address to the Prison Service's annual conference
     in Nottingham, Mr Narey said unless he received the
     unequivocal backing of staff he would "find an easier
     way of earning a living". 

     The director general's comments follow a difficult period
     for the Prison Service. One prison has been threatened
     with privatisation and others have been subjected to
     scathing reports from Sir David Ramsbotham, the chief
     inspector of prisons. 

     Three officers have been jailed for brutality and the
     Commission for Racial Equality is investigating jail
     racism, after the racist murder of a young Asian inmate. 

     Mr Narey said he would no longer allow staff to "hide
     behind the excuses" of overcrowding and lack of
     resources when they were criticised over "hell hole" jails.
     He said: "Year after year, governor after governor,
     inspection after inspection, prisons like these have been
     exposed. Year after year the exposure has led to a flurry
     of hand-wringing, sometimes a change of governor, a
     dash of capital investment but no real or sustained
     improvement." 

     Mr Narey's outburst - "the most important [speech] I
     have made" - is partly inspired by a visit to Birmingham
     prison, which will be the subject of one of the worst jail
     inspection reports published. Mr Narey said: "I found a
     staff resigned, uncaring, or both, about unacceptable
     conditions." 

     The jail was filthy and appalling and staff had lied to him
     when they claimed they had cleaned it. He also said he
     disagreed with the jail's independent visitors that
     prisoners were not being physically abused. 

     Mr Narey said there was an "atmosphere of intimidation
     and neglect" at Wormwood Scrubs in London, "utter
     filth" in the hospital at Brixton, also in London, and
     conditions at Portland young offenders' institution in
     Dorset were a "moral outrage". He added: "We have to
     decide, as a service, whether this litany of failure and
     moral neglect continues indefinitely or whether we are
     going to reform places." 

    The director general said the service could not "duck
    issues" by blaming its problems on overcrowding,
    resource constraints, middle management failings or the
    "opposition" of the Prison Officers' Association. 

    From "The Independent" an English broadsheet

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    2003 update, also from "The Independent" 

    Independent
    1. Taxpayer to foot £2m bill for prison brutality
       scandal
    
    11 February 2003
    The hidden cost of the prison officer brutality scandal at
    Wormwood Scrubs in London is expected to exceed £2m, with 
    the Government compensating inmates in a succession of 
    out-of-court settlements.

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    "Perceptions" note:

    [ See http://www.perceptions.couk.com/genes5.html#today ]
 
    We expected the speech (top) to achieve as much as the regular
    diatribes against child-abuse (Britian has twice the European
    average of children abused and murdered ).

    The perverts remain in control, secretly or openly, in 
    all institutions.

    See
    http://www.perceptions.couk.com/authority8.txt
    http://www.perceptions.couk.com/laworjustice.html#racist ]


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