G4D Failure Should not be Surprising

Dear Sir,

The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter Clarke, uncovered "appalling" squalor and violence at Her Majesty's Prison in Birmingham. G4S was awarded a 15 year contract in 2011 to operate Birmingham Prison.

Mr Clarke was astounded by the deterioration of the prison since the last inspection in February, 2017 and stated that there had been an, "abject failure of contract management and delivery". Mr Clarke wrote that, "the inertia that seems to have gripped both those monitoring the contract and delivering it on the ground has led to one of Britain's leading jails slipping into a state of crisis that is remarkable even by the low standards we have seen all too frequently in recent years". This prison was the scene of rioting in 2016 and was the prison with the largest volume of assault incidents of all prisons in the 12 months to July 2018 with a total of 1,434.

As so often in the case of G4S, the quality of the staff may be part of the problem given that adverts on the G4S website state that, "no specific previous qualifications or experience are required" for the full-time role of prison custody officer. Therefore, it is not surprising that Mr Clarke reported that,"it was often difficult to find officers, although we did find some asleep during prisoner lock-up periods".

The Government has been forced to take over direct control of this prison and has reduced its prison population by about 300 and at the same time increased the number of prison officers by 30.

Given that the Government has taken back control from its privately run operator G4S, it is extraordinary that the Government is thinking of handing control back of the running of this prison to G4S in the future.

The Government claims that the taxpayer will not bear any direct costs of G4S' failure at H.M.P. Birmingham but there has been an indirect cost to the Government in sorting out this mess as well as a delay in sorting out this problem caused by negotiating with G4S the transfer of the running of this prison back into public ownership.

We should not be surprised by G4S' failure, this company has failed the Government time and time again.

In 2016, G4S had its contract to run Medway Secure Training Centre taken away by the Government after allegations of mistreating children and cooking the books when it came to recording restraints.

In September 2015, G4S lost its contract to run Rainsbrook STC after prison inspectors graded it inadequate.

In 2014, G4S repaid the money it had been paid for tagging offenders in Scotland as G4S in fact been charging the Government for tagging offenders who were either dead or in prison.

Who can forget G4S' abject failure in managing its £ 240 million contract as the security services provider of the 2012 London Olympics when the Government had to bail G4S out by bringing in the army in to sort the mess out.

In 2011, G4S staff attached an electronic monitoring tag to the false leg of a one-legged criminal thus enabling him to go out and leave his false leg behind at home !

The Independent newspaper in reviewing G4S' history rightly asks how can such privatisation continue?

Clearly, this Government allows it's dogma of privatisation to replace common sense and good governance, when it is obvious that the management and running of our prisons and custody services should, at all times, remain under the direct management and control of the Government.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Douglas,

2 Hollycroft,

Congleton CW12 4SH