The flipchart in the corner of the staff meeting room, deep inside a prison in the south-east of England, tells its own story about what our overcrowded jails are having to deal with, day in day out. Under the heading “Challenges”, it lists gangs, the destruction of cells, prisoners exploiting each other and complex behaviours.
Committed, hard-working staff talk about the high levels of psychosis, often combined with drug abuse. They provide examples of people actually committing crimes to go back into jail to get some respite from their chaotic, dysfunctional lives.
