Prison bosses spent up to 1million on changing the locks after a guard was allegedly taken hostage and had his keys stolen. Insiders at the privately run HMP Northumberland1 claim an officer was put in a headlock by an inmate and dragged into a cell in April, before having his keys swiped. After the riot Sodexo Justice Services, the firm which runs the prison, would only confirm a guard had been assaulted and an investigation was under way.
Now the company has revealed it had to review security systems and change the locks at an estimated cost of more than 500,000. Moving prisoners from cells during a re-lock means the cost of the entire operation could have cost up to 1million, according to the Prison Officers Association (POA).
HMP Northumberland at Acklington in Northumberland
Glyn Travis, assistant secretary of the POA, said: There has been some significant incidents there involving staff and assaults.
A refit of locks in a prison of that size would cost anything from 500,000 to 1million. Changing the locks is around 500,000 to 600,000.
But there is the added cost of moving of prisoners around. It normally takes around five days to re-lock.
When you take that into account, a total cost of 1million is probably about right. A HMP Northumberland spokesman said: Following an incident we reviewed our security systems and all necessary changes have since been made.
The incident itself is subject to a police investigation.2
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The Acklington jail has been embroiled in scandal since it was put under the control of Sodexo in December 2013. Just days before the guard was attacked, an inmate managed to escape from staff during a visit to Cramlington Hospital. The 36-year-old man gave officers the slip and allegedly made a getaway on a stolen motorbike, but was arrested in Wallsend around two hours later.
In August, an officer was left with a suspected broken jaw and fractured eye socket after he was jumped while working on the sex offender unit.
Ian Lavery MP for Wansbeck speaks at the 2016 Labour Conference in Liverpool
And this month, a stash of the banned psychoactive substance spice was seized at the prison with insiders estimating the haul had a value of almost 1million.
Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery3 fears it is only a matter of time before a prison guard is killed at the jail. He said: I dread taking a call about the prison because I fear the worst.
I am contacted regularly by civilian staff, prisoners, prison officers and their partners about the conditions inside.
The partners are worried their loved ones are going to go off to a shift and not come back.
It has got to the stage where it is easier to buy drugs like Spice inside our prisons than it is out on the streets.
The latest drugs find was huge and you have to ask how that is getting in there. The chaos and violence inside the prison has a knock on effect for communities on the outside.
Police and ambulance crews are regularly called out there and obviously if an ambulance is there, it cannot deal with emergencies elsewhere.
It is a powder keg.
References
- ^ run HMP Northumberland (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
- ^ police investigation. (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
- ^ Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)