Inmates at two resettlement prisons in England and Wales are locked up for more than 22 hours a day with too little to do, inspectors have found.
Unannounced inspections at Brixton and The Mount prisons in March found that most of the 1,716 inmates at both sites were locked up for 22 hours a day and more on weekends.
Reports from the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons of the two category C prisons show they were failing to provide the resettlement and training functions crucial to inmates’ rehabilitation.
Category C prisons are training and resettlement jails that hold prisoners who are considered to be a low escape risk but can not be trusted in open conditions,
Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said the findings “raise serious questions” about the lack of importance that prisons are giving to providing inmates with genuinely purposeful ways to spend their time”.
