Violent and disruptive inmates were moved from Pentonville prison to improve the outcome of inspections, according to a new report.
The Ministry of Justice ordered a review into prison transfers after claims surfaced that Pentonville governors were moving disruptive prisoners before inspections from Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP), an independent body which inspects around 30 prisons a year.
There were six transfers, a practice known as ‘looping’, of prisoners from Pentonville to Wandsworth shortly before a scheduled inspection in May last year.
The report found clear evidence of ‘looping’ and said: “One of the key features of the Wandsworth and Pentonville transfers was that in most cases, the prisoners were returned to original prison after the inspection.”
Andrew Neilson, assistant director of the Howard League for Penal Reform said: “The prisoner transfers between Pentonville and Wandsworth were a clear attempt to hoodwink the inspectorate and indicate profound malaise inside the prison system.
“The two governors concerned were both known to be highly competent, yet the prisons over which they presided were driven to such life-threatening practices because of a culture of management by numbers, grossly overflowing prisons and political bullying.
Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Justice, condemned the practice in a written statement to parliament: “These were deliberate attempts to manipulate the outcome of the prison inspection.”
Due to the prevalence of ‘looping’ before announced inspections, the Ministry of Justice has recommended that, in the future, transfers made in the month before inspections should be shown to the HMCIP.
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Even more curious, there was an exchange of emails about these transfers between the governor’s of pentonville and Wandsworth, but neither were held to account over it.