Introduction
About this report
1.In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Justice Committee have sought to examine the Government’s actions across the justice system. The operation of prisons in England and Wales is one of our highest priorities, and we have looked principally at prison regime changes required to minimise outbreaks of disease and maintain the safety of prisoners and prison staff, and at management of the prison population. We have held five oral evidence sessions specifically on Coronavirus (Covid-19): The Impact on prison, probation and court systems, and have taken evidence on the impact of Covid-19 during sessions related to other Justice Committee inquiries. We have received many written briefings from organisations operating in the criminal justice sector.
2.This report summarises what we have heard or received in evidence. We have set out the key events and announcements made by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) relating to the operation of Prisons in England and Wales. We will publish separate short reports on other aspects of the Ministry’s Covid-19 response, including on the impact of Covid-19 on probation in England and Wales and on the effects on the court and tribunals system and the legal profession. We thank the organisations and witnesses who have so far provided us with evidence.
3.The Covid-19 pandemic poses an urgent threat to public health and safety. It is an unprecedented situation that has required an immediate response by the prison service to protect the NHS and save lives. We praise the Prison Service and wider stakeholders for the vital work they are doing to respond to the pandemic and protect those in their care and the public.
The current situation in prisons
4.Covid-19 is an unprecedented public health crisis affecting all aspects of society, including prisons in England and Wales. Prisons were already under substantial pressure before the outbreak of coronavirus, however. The Justice Committee reported last year that “the prison system in England and Wales is enduring a crisis of safety and decency” and noted record violence and self-harm and the poor condition of many prisons, particularly a backlog of maintenance estimated at £900 million.1
5.The prison service has faced increased capacity pressures because of increased demand for prison places and delays in creating new places; at December 2019, the prison population was around 82,300, equating to 98% of the useable operational capacity of the estate.2 It is against this backdrop that prisons in England and Wales had to adapt and respond to the immediate threat that Covid-19 posed.
6.In March 2020, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, rt hon, Robert Buckland QC MP, told the Justice Committee that the pressure on prisons in England and Wales due to coronavirus was acute:
“I am not going to make any bones about it: it is a huge challenge. I have quite a proportion of the estate where there is crowding and more than one person in a cell. That presents a real challenge”.3
7.In addition to the current condition of the prison estate, people in contact with the criminal justice system, including those in prison and on probation, tend to be in poorer health than the general population and have greater need for heath care.4 Mr Buckland told the Committee in March:
“I have a number of people in the cohort you would class as vulnerable. I have about 1,800 who would be shielded if they were in the community. This cohort tends to have poorer health than the rest of the population”5
8.In April 2020, Public Health England reported: “Outbreaks of COVID-19 in prisons affecting staff and prisoners are being seen currently. But early emerging data collected by PHE suggests that the ‘explosive outbreaks’ of COVID-19 which were feared at the beginning of the pandemic wave are not being seen”.6 As of 19 June 2020, 505 prisoners and 984 prison staff have tested positive for coronavirus and 24 prisoners and nine Prison Service staff members have died.7 It is to the credit of the Secretary of State and his ministerial team, HMPPS and all those working within the prison service that those figures have been neither higher nor as high as had been feared.
1 Justice Committee, First Report of Session 2019, Prison Governance, HC 191
2 National Audit Office, Improving the Prison Estate (February 2020), p 6
4 Health and Social Care Committee, Twelfth Report of Session 2017–19, Prison health, HC 963, para 17
6 Public Heath England, Briefing paper - interim assessment of impact of various population management strategies in prisons in response to COVID-19 pandemic in England (April 2020), p 1
Published: 27 July 2020