Let us in to jail, says Howard League

The Howard League for Penal Reform has called for urgent action to secure the independent scrutiny of prisons, after an invitation for its chief to visit two privately-run jails was withdrawn at the last minute.

Julian Hubbert, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, has tabled an early day motion asking the government to overturn the ban and ensure the visit takes place.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League, had been invited by G4S to visit HMP Oakwood, in Staffordshire, one of the biggest prisons on the country, and HMP Birmingham, the first Victorian prison to be taken over by the private contractor, to see how conditions in the two jails had improved.

But after Crook had bought her train tickets she received a letter from the director of custodial services at the National Offender Management Service, Ian Blakeman, rescinding the invitation.

The letter did not cite operational or security reasons for the termination; rather the fact that Crook had made 'comments about private prisons' and Blakeman did not feel the visit 'would be appropriate at this time'.

Blakemore said he had therefore 'informed G4S that they should withdraw the invitation'.

The Howard League has called on its supporters to lobby their MPs to sign the EDM and precipitate a Parliamentary debate.

In a statement, the Howard league said: 'We believe making money out of punishing people is both reprehensible and immoral and it is on these grounds that we have opposed the private management of prisons.

'Prisons are overcrowded and understaffed, violence is prevalent and deaths by suicide have increased. Private prisons are taking £500m of taxpayers' money each year, so they must be open to independent scrutiny.'

Crook told Solicitors Journal that the sending of the 'poorly-crafted' letter was 'unfortunate'.

She said: 'It is an indication of how politicised public servants in the Ministry of Justice have become.'

'Civil servants are supposed to be impartial and professional. It is unfortunate when that is compromised by the party political pressure exerted in the Ministry of Justice.'

Crook said that she had tried through Freedom of Information requests to see any emails sent between the ministry and the G4S in relation to her visits, but that they had been refused.

She added: 'I'm often critical of G4S when they do things wrong, but on this occasion they have behaved with probity.

'It is quite an extraordinary accomplishment to get G4S and the Howard League to come to an agreement.'

The MoJ declined to confirm who had taken the decision to terminate Crook's invitation or to indicate if it supported it. Instead it issued a statement from a Prison Service spokesman that said: 'Organisations and individuals independent of the Ministry of Justice and Prison Service are frequently given access to our prisons - inspectors, monitoring boards, MPs, researchers and a wide range of interest and reform groups.

'It is absolutely right that prisons, like all public institutions, face significant media scrutiny and we welcome public debate on the issues they face.'

But, delivering a sideswipe to the Howard League, which has repeatedly highlighted the adverse impact of staff cuts and overcrowding in jails, the statement said: 'Groups and individuals are of course entitled to express their opinions. Those who irresponsibly misrepresent the situation by making inaccurate comments, and who fail to correct them when their inaccuracy is pointed out to them, are not a priority for access to prisons.'

Responding, Crook said: 'We have only being saying things based on their own published figures and they don't like being criticised.'

Catherine Baksi is a freelance legal journalist