Prisoners at a Nottinghamshire jail are dismantling Covid tests and personal protective equipment (PPE) for £3.50 a day. The surplus kit is being dismantled by HMP Ranby inmates, who remove recyclable materials from masks, visors and other gear.
Seven million testing kits were put on lorries and dropped off at three prisons. The value of the Covid equipment is not clear, but average known production costs suggest it could be £12million.
The Mirror reports the work is taking place at three prisons which each home three workshops. Up to 20 inmates work at the site for six hours a day, five days a week.
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Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “The Government was guilty of criminal levels of waste during the pandemic, now it seems they’re using prisoners to cover their tracks.” The haul, which amassed after desperate carers had been crying out for supplies, includes items originally meant for prisoners themselves.
The scheme has been going on for six months – with no end in sight. An insider said: “It’s an extraordinary situation. I suppose it makes sense as doing it in prison means the public have no idea it is going on. Some people ask whether this operation could provide work for people who haven’t broken the law.”
The dumped swab kits were marked for the Department for Health and Social Care. Government sources claimed they had gone out of date, but insiders said some were marked as expiring in December 2023.
Lorry loads of kit were picked up near Felixstowe, Suffolk, where PPE was reportedly held in shipping containers. Some of the kit was driven 170 miles to Ranby prison near Retford.
The category C jail was criticised in July for failing to provide purposeful activity for 1,000 inmates. Lib Dem Ms Cooper added: “Ministers must come clean over how much PPE is being dismantled in prisons and at what cost to the taxpayer.
“Millions of pounds was wasted on faulty PPE and crony Covid contracts. The public deserves full transparency about how much it will cost to clean up their mess.”
Barrister Joylon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, said: “Paying prisoners money to destroy stuff we never needed but bought for billions from ministers’ friends feels like a Mafia TV series plot. In fact, it’s just everyday life in the UK under this government.”
In June, figures revealed ministers spent almost £9billion on PPE that was either substandard, defective, out of date or dramatically overpriced. Some £673m of equipment was unusable, according to 2020-21 accounts, while £750m went on items which expired before being used.
Nearly £2.6bn was spent on “items not suitable for use in the NHS ”, but which the Department of Health thinks can be sold or given to charities. The Prison Service said: “This project ensures waste is recycled and saves taxpayer money.”
A Justice Department source said: “Masks and other PPE being destroyed were made for prisoners across England and Wales and supplied by the Government. The tests came directly from the UK Health Security Agency.”
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