Penal reform charities and campaigners have warned that new government plans to tackle the mounting safety crisis in prisons are a "sticking plaster" that could fail to address the central problem of reducing reoffending and turning prisoners' lives around.
The justice secretary, Liz Truss, has announced the creation of a further 2,100 prison officer jobs in England and Wales, a week after Ministry of Justice figures revealed that officers are subjected to 65 assaults a day.
Officer numbers fell by 30% after sharp budget cuts in 2010 and now some 18,000 officers guard a prison population that's grown to a record 85,000. Even with the new officers, which are in addition to 400 new roles announced earlier this year, staffing still won't return to 2010 levels.
On Thursday Truss announced the launch of a prisons reform white paper and told the House of Commons that the new legislation would make her responsible not just for housing prisoners but for reforming them, alongside new measures – including Ofsted-style annual league tables – to identify and intervene to improve failing prisons.
Officers will be given body-worn cameras – widely used by the Metropolitan Police Service – while the prisons service will work more closely with the police and the National Crime Agency to tackle organised crime in jails, Truss said.
During a Commons debate following her statement on the white paper, Truss refused to acknowledge that prisons are in crisis. "The prison system in England and Wales is under serious and sustained pressure," she said.
Frances Crook, CEO of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "There are welcome commitments on accountability and improving outcomes, although there is a danger efforts to measure performance will distract from tackling the daily carnage we are seeing in prisons across the country.
“It is also welcome to see the government reversing previous decisions on cuts to staffing, although it remains to be seen how quickly things improve on the prison landings. The levels of deaths and violence are such that it will take more than just bodies in uniform to turn things around."
The Howard League is calling for a commitment to reducing prison numbers to ease overcrowding – while Truss has ruled out any "arbitrary reductions in the prison population."
BuzzFeed News this week spoke to current and former prison staff who described scenes of chaos and violence on prison landings, where some young, inexperienced staff unable to cope.
Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said in a statement on Thursday morning: "The time for aspirational rhetoric on prisons is over. We expect a white paper that promises concrete standards, approved by parliament, against which the government must deliver, and a boost in resources to make that possible.
"All of that will be welcome. But the legacy is 25 years of political failure to grip prison inflation and chronic overcrowding. Liz Truss will have to overturn that inheritance, and urgently reduce the demand for prison places, to make her plan work."
Penelope Gibbs, founder of the Transform Justice campaign group, told BuzzFeed News: "It's great that the secretary of state wants to make conditions in prison better by recruiting more staff, which is essential, but ultimately it's a sticking plaster.
"What we need to do is reduce prison numbers. And the critical point is that numbers have gone up not because more people have been sent to prisons – the real driver is the lengthening of sentences.
"We call it sentence inflation and it shows no sign of stopping. The only long-term answer to problems in prison is reverse sentence inflation.
"Her desire to reduce reoffending through improving conditions in prison is laudable and will make a little bit of difference. But prisons are the least easy place to turn offenders' lives around. The focus needs to be in the community."
In response to a proposed revolt by the Prison Officers Association – which is banned from taking strike action but had planned to hold meetings outside prisons on Wednesday morning – Truss has agreed to meet officers to hear their concerns.
Also on Thursday, Truss announced that there will be new jails built at Glen Parva, Leicestershire, and Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.