After the very recent scrutiny of HMP Nottingham’s functioning, who really is to blame for the
Inmates are most often, apart from a minority of wrongful convictions, in prison for committing a crime. However their health and wellbeing is still important and should be managed correctly.
There are thought to be two suicide attempts a week at HMP Nottingham and eight people have thought to have killed themselves in the last two years.Although these figures appear to be low, the prison has received backlash over the running of the prison and the care in place. And they have been criticised for a number of failings:
Assaults- 2/3 of inmates reported feeling unsafe and 200 assaults have been recorded in a six month period (about half against staff, possibly down to staff having little training and experience).
Inexperienced staff – many prison staff stay in the area for less than a year, mainly due to the money they get being comparable to a supermarket. Also many staff are new to the job and so lack experience when dealing with prisoners. However, lack of experience is not the staffs fault, they need to get experience somewhere. Staff just need appropriate training and help and support from the government in order to function effectively.
Alcohol and drugs – homemade alcohol and legal highs are common in the prison and cause serious problems, impacting their health and the health of others with many incidents of assault occurring with drugs or alcohol.
This video shows the state of another prison, one of the largest in the UK, by an undercover reporter.
The prison has been provided with more staff and more experienced staff and aims to make vast improvements quickly. However this is not the only prison struggling, the crisis in the prisons is prevalent across the UK. Maybe the focus should be to giving the staff more comprehensive training in mental health and more qualified mental health workers in prisons to attempt to lower the rates of suicide, but whether this will happen is anyones guess. Hopefully, the backlash over the functioning at this prison, will prompt the government and prison officials to seriously amend their current policies for wellbeing and mental health.
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