'Prisoners watch TV and sleep all day': Watchdog lashes out at 'post-Covid torpor'
6 June 2022, 23:21 | Updated: 7 June 2022, 00:42
Prisons have been infected by a "post-Covid torpor" with inmates "wiling away their time watching daytime television and sleeping", a watchdog has warned.
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Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said although the long-term effects of lockdowns on criminals behind bars are not yet known, it is "likely there will be a price to pay for the boredom, the inactivity, the loss of family ties, the postponement of group therapy and the lack of education or work".
He told an audience at the Middle Temple hall in central London on Monday that most prisons are doing a "better job of punishing than they are at rehabilitating or protecting the public from future crime", according to a copy of his speech.
In the lecture for Royal Holloway, University of London, he said: "Since the end of last year we have inspected seven category C training prisons, where there has been a depressingly low level of activity for prisoners in jails whose responsibility is to educate, train and increase the employability of prisoners, with the aim of preparing them for their eventual release.
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"A sort of post-Covid torpor seems to have infected many prisons, with workshops and classrooms remaining empty, and prisoners wiling away their time watching daytime television and sleeping."
Mr Taylor added: "We can't yet know what the long-term effects of extended lockdowns will be on this generation of prisoners, but it is likely there will be a price to pay for the boredom, the inactivity, the loss of family ties, the postponement of group therapy and the lack of education or work.
"Reoffending rates for those leaving custody remain stubbornly high at around 40% for adults and over 60% for children.
"This suggests that most prisons are doing a better job of punishing than they are at rehabilitating or protecting the public from future crime. I don't expect that after the last two years, we will see an improvement these numbers.
"If prisons are to be an essential component of a successful justice system, that is trusted by the public to keep them safe, then our model needs to change...
"With the right focus on growing great leaders and recruiting and retaining strong and effective officers, with buildings that create a safe and productive environment and a belief that with the right help, most people will stop committing crime.
"We can develop a prison system that supports change and becomes value for money for the £45,000 that the taxpayer spends on each prison place."
