First privatised jail sparks row

2011-03-31 15:02:54

31 March 2011 Last updated at 18:17 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Ken Clarke privatises Birmingham Prison amid union fury

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Steve Gillan of Prison Officers' Association: Ken Clarke is 'playing games'

"The state has a duty to those imprisoned by the criminal justice system and this coalition government have betrayed loyal public sector workers for their friends in the private sector."

He later added: "We will not make a knee-jerk reaction. We will study what we can do and take direction from our members, but we will not rule out industrial action."

The Birmingham prison officers returned to the jail following their impromptu meeting but were said to be feeling "bitter" and "physically sick" about the announcement.

Mark Serwotka, leader of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union - which has 5,000 members working in prisons - said profit had "absolutely no place in our prison system".

"It is untrue that this is about efficiency. Privatisation is not a cheaper option, all it does is take money from taxpayers and put it in the pockets of the executives and shareholders of private companies such as G4S and Serco."

He added that the decision to pay Serco by results at Doncaster prison was an "invitation to the private sector to gamble on the rehabilitation of inmates and cherry-pick the easiest cases".

'Public protection'

David Taylor-Smith, chief executive of G4S, said they were "delighted" to have been selected to operate HMP Birmingham and Featherstone 2.

"We have an excellent track record in running prisons on behalf of the government, dating back nearly 20 years to when we became the first private company to run a prison with HMP Wolds in 1992," he said.

In his statement Mr Clarke said Wellingborough Prison, in Northamptonshire, had been withdrawn from the competition and would need to deliver the 10% efficiency savings required by all prisons over the next four years.

Continue reading the main story Prisons - public v private Eleven private prisons in England and Wales; two in Scotland, none in Northern Ireland Counting Birmingham, 14% of UK prisoners are under private management; 86% public. Higher private rate than the US, at 9% Cost per prison place higher in most categories in private prisons - eg male category B = £26,813 private, £25,881 public Ratio of officers per prisoner - 3.78 private, 3.03 public In 2006 basic pay was 39% less in private sector

Source: Prison Reform Trust

He said the changes would bring savings of £21m for the three existing prisons and deliver the new Feathersone 2 prison £31m cheaper than originally planned and said "cumulative savings over the lifetime of the contracts for the three existing prisons are very impressive at £216m".

Mr Clarke said: "This process shows that competition can deliver innovation, efficiency and better value for money for the taxpayer - but also that it can do so without compromising standards.

"Public protection is not just about how we manage prisons in order to punish people. It is also about how we achieve genuine and long-lasting reductions in crime, by cutting reoffending."

Mr Clarke said that central to this was the pilot payment-by-results project at Doncaster Prison, where 10% of the contract price will be held back unless the prison can cut by 5% or more the one-year reoffending rates.

Juliet Lyon, of the Prison Reform Trust, pointed out that the UK had a higher proportion of prisoners in private hands than the US.

She added: "It's a very large proportion of people to be held in that way, given that prison is our most extreme form of punishment.

"We must make sure that there's adequate monitoring, proper checks and balances, to make sure this is done on behalf of the state and done properly.

"The real concern is about very poor reoffending rates and that's got to be improved. The question remains is it a good way of doing it to try and introduce more privatisation? Will that improve performance and accountability or will it lead to such tensions in the system that standards could in fact fall further?" she added.

The new contracts come into force from October, except Featherstone 2, which runs from April 2012.

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