Stafford Prison staff level 'critical'

Funding cuts of £1 million and staff shortages 'verging on critical' at Stafford Prison have been revealed in a report.

The Stafford Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which is the eyes and ears of the Ministry of Justice, reported that a reduction of 31 staff and cuts had affected the rehabilitation of inmates at the prison and made basic jobs more difficult.

Concerns raised in the report included a weak personal officer system so prisoners could not build up good relationships with an assigned member of staff who would know them well. There is also a lack of sex offender treatment programmes, especially for low risk offenders, which the board says is a worry now that the prison takes in only sex offenders.

The report also reveals a catering budget of only £1.96 a day for adult men and that prisoners' property was being lost when inmates were transferred from another jail.

The IMB, a group of local volunteers which is appointed by the MoJ, welcomed the prison's recent change to a specialist centre for sex offenders, but has raised concerns that the process is causing too much disruption. Staffing shortages were often 'on the verge of being critical', the report says, but workers have been praised for striving to maintain high standards.

"The board continued to receive frequent complaints about the quantity and quality of kit. Some prisoners wore their own clothes," said the report.

As at April 30, 2014, the number of full time or equivalent staff was 298 – 31 fewer than the previous year.

Some £1.1 million was saved from the budget in 2013/14, which was £638,000 more than the previous year.

A statement by the board said: "Government cuts made the lives of staff and prisoners alike very difficult last year. A reduction of 31 staff and an 'efficiency saving' of over a million pounds had made it increasingly difficult for prisoners to be rehabilitated successfully into society."