Britain’s prisons are collapsing from within - and David Lammy’s Justice Department is repeating every past failure

This is evident not only from the consistent findings of the Chief Inspectors of Prisons and Probation, but also from the steady stream of media investigations.

Suicides and assaults are at record levels; drugs are more accessible than basic necessities; and serious organised crime and corruption permeate the system.

Rehabilitation is almost nonexistent, and people are frequently recalled to custody soon after release—damaged by their time inside and left without adequate support in the community. The current headlines about erroneous releases are simply another symptom of a system in collapse.

In response to each crisis, the government insists it “inherited a mess,” and while that may once have been true, it has done little to repair the situation. Instead, those who have overseen the decline have been rewarded. Senior leaders across the Ministry of Justice and the prison and probation services have been promoted, including the former CEO who has now departed to head Homes England.

The Permanent Secretary who presided over years of chaos has been moved to the Home Office—apparently to resolve the turmoil there—accompanied by a Secretary of State following the same trajectory.

In the immediate term, genuine accountability is essential. Rather than placing blame on junior staff, it is those directing the system who should be removed.

Fresh leadership with a proven record is urgently needed. Yet the recent CEO vacancy was filled through an internal “managed move,” and the Chief Operating Officer was elevated to Director General.

When Rory Stewart was Prisons Minister, he sought to bring in Nils Öberg, the respected and successful head of the Swedish prison service.

He was overruled—presumably by his then–Secretary of State, David Gauke.

The prison and probation services remain unaccountable, inward-looking, secretive and self-serving. Many staff have never worked outside the system.

Training for prison officers is inadequate; training for middle managers and governors is practically non-existent. While some outstanding governors manage to succeed, they do so despite the system’s leadership.

Meanwhile, a growing cadre of “Travelodge Governors” serve short stints far from their home communities, disconnected from the prisons and people they are meant to lead.

Longer term, the system requires a fundamental overhaul. Probation should return to regional control, where it once operated effectively. Although Labour pledged to review probation governance, the promise has quietly disappeared.

We need prisons for those who genuinely pose a threat, and different types of institutions for those who do not. This amounts to a “federal” model: a centrally run estate focusing on safe, secure and constructive custody, and a locally run estate—managed by Metro Mayors or Police and Crime Commissioners—designed to support the chaotic, revolving-door population who rely on community-based interventions.

The current one-size-fits-all system is expensive, ineffective and unable to cope with the relentlessly rising prison population. We cannot build our way out of this crisis, yet the government continues to try—while releasing people either too soon or in a worse state than when they entered.

Conditions worsen by the day. The safety of staff, prisoners and the public is increasingly at risk, all victims of a system more concerned with self-preservation than public protection.

Ministers are not meant to manage the system day to day. Their job is to set policy, allocate budgets, appoint capable leaders and hold them to account.

But this requires ministers to stay in post long enough to understand their brief—and to care more about the role than their next promotion. Two decades of rapid turnover among Secretaries of State and Prisons Ministers from governments of all colours has caused immense damage.

They have been “Yes-Ministered” at every turn, bound to a “tough on crime” mantra without the political courage to do more than lock up increasing numbers of people for longer and longer.

It is clear that this approach is failing—and David Lammy appears no different from his predecessors, perhaps already glancing towards the ambassador’s residence in Washington.

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John Podmore,  former governor of HMP Brixton and Belmarsh & author of Out Of Sight Out Of Mind: Why Britain's Prisons Are Failing

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