ShutterstockThere’s not a lot to do in prison, that’s kind of the point really, isn’t it? But now a new report suggests that prisoners in one UK jail are becoming violent because they’re bored.
The HM Inspectorate of Prisons found HMP Stoke Heath had high levels of violence – and found several weapons among inmates -, pointing to boredom, and an availability of drink and drugs, as one reason for the bad behaviour.
Stoke Heath houses 745 prisoners, and the report finds more should be done to stop violence among inmates and prevent newly released inmates from reoffending.
Apparently a high number of prisoners were involved in domestic violence offences, but the report said there was very little being done to address their behaviour.
ShutterstockThe inspectorate said in the report:
Many prisoners were under-occupied and boredom contributed to poor behaviour. We found 40 per cent of men – unemployed, part-time workers and domestic workers – milling about aimlessly on the wings during the working day.
Michael Spurr, chief executive of the national offender management service, has now pledged to use the findings of the report to ‘develop and improve further’ when it comes to prisoner violence.
Although, considering the report also found that one prisoner, a foreign national, was being held solely on immigration grounds despite having finished his prison term two years ago, there’s clearly a lot more which needs to be done across the board!
