Easy life? Prison is as tough as it gets, says outgoing jails chief
Easy life? Prison is as tough as it gets, says outgoing jails chief
Outgoing prisons chief Nick Hardwick has admitted life behind bars has got worse over the past five years. As he prepares to step down, Mr Hardwick says that far from being an "easy touch" as many would believe, prison life is "as bad as you could possibly imagine". Speaking to the Guardian, the chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales added that in male adult prisons, the situation is most bleak. He said: "In the adult estate, the reality is things have got worse, and I think they would have been even worse were it not for us."
You shouldn’t do this job for too long because you get used to things you shouldn’t get used to.'
He described some of the conditions in prison as "disgusting", with prisoners living two to a cell, eating meals sitting on the bed next to an "unscreened" toilet. Mr Hardwick steps down on Sunday to be replaced by the former assistant commissioner of the Met Police, Peter Clarke. In his final annual report released in July, which said that prisons in England and Wales were in their worst state for 10 years, Mr Hardwick noted that one staff member at Wormwood Scrubs said of the cells: "I wouldn't keep a dog in there."
