Nia Griffith MP has labelled the current overcrowding in prisons as a predictable scandal, that the Tory LibDem Government should have seen coming. Recently, she spoke up in Parliament, referring to the situation at Swansea Prison, which has achieved the unwanted title of Britain’s most overcrowded prison, running at a 198% occupancy rate. The Llanelli MP pointed out that none other than the Chief Inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, has called the situation “a political and policy failure.”

Nia Griffith has commented further this weekend:

“With the rate of occupancy skyrocketing and prisons like Swansea holding twice the number of prisoners it was designed for, it is not surprising that we now learn that the Government is having to bring back former prison officers they have only recently fired and retired. Some 2,066 officers nationwide are being brought back to cope with the deteriorating situation in prisons. Many of these officers had received redundancy payments less than two years ago,costing the taxpayer some £50 million. This is a monumental failure by this Tory LibDem Government, which they should have foreseen, and which will now cost the taxpayer more. And they are storing up yet more trouble for the future….. With such overcrowding there is no time to teach prisoners the basic literacy and life skills that many of them need, to have any hope of staying clear of trouble on their release. Prisoner education is certainly not top of the public’s agenda, but getting ex-prisoners back into work is not just good for them: it keeps down the benefits’ bill, and is clearly cheaper than having them back in prison again.”