Rule-breaking inmates handed 117 extra years behind bars
Prisoners in jails across the Black Country and Staffordshire were handed a total of 42,756 days – more than 117 years – of additional imprisonment for breaking prison rules last year.
Research by the Howard League for Penal Reform reveals today that, across England and Wales, almost 290,000 additional days of imprisonment were handed down to prisoners during 2016 – a 75 per cent rise in only two years.
The Howard League has calculated that the additional days imposed in 2016 alone will cost the taxpayer about £27million.
The findings are published in Out of control: Punishment in prison, the latest in a series of Howard League reports examining how prisons respond to misbehaviour.
At Featherstone, near Wolverhampton, the additional days imposed in 2015 were 3,608 and then 3,045 last year for an average population of 679.
At Oakwood the additional days in 2015 were 5,404 and 3,663 in 2016 for an average population of 1,566.
Other figures have been given for Brinsford in Staffordshire where there was 5,098 additional days given in 2015 and 5,742 last year among an average population of 375.
At Drake Hall women’s prison in Eccleshall it was 1,225 extra days in 2015 and 1,266 in 2016 among an average population of 336.
At Stafford it was 570 extra days in 2015 and 626 in 2016 for an average population of 744 and at Birmingham inmates were given 4,138 additional days in 2015 which went up to 5,519 in 2016 among 1,444 prisoners.
Swinfen Hall in Lichfield showed one of the biggest increases with prisoners orders to serve 4,024 extra days in 2015 and then 10,063 last year for an average population of 604.
The Howard League says it reveals how disciplinary hearings, known as adjudications, are used overly and inappropriately, with even minor infractions such as disobedience and disrespect being punished with additional days of imprisonment.
The report calls on England and Wales to follow the example set by Scotland, where the use of additional days of imprisonment was scrapped about 10 years ago.
Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Prisons are out of control. More people than ever before are losing their lives to suicide, and violence and self-injury are at record levels.
"The adjudications system has become a monster that is making these problems worse. Bold but sensible action to reduce the prison population would save lives and prevent more people being swept into deeper currents of crime, violence and despair.”
