Jack Straw evicts 600 prison officers from their homes...and moves convicts in to ease jails crisis

12 April 2012

The Government is evicting more than 600 prison officers from their homes so they can move in convicted criminals to ease the jail overcrowding crisis.

The news comes as jails were declared absolutely full for the first time ever, with the number of inmates in England and Wales totalling 82,068 – almost 100 above the official safety limit.

The Ministry of Justice has told the warders to leave their State-owned properties by May 1 so they can be used to home burglars, thugs and drug dealers released on electronic tags – raising fears over public safety.

More than 100 of the homes, ranging from one-bedroom flats to large townhouses, are in prime sites across London, where prison officers, who have been paying heavily subsidised rent, claim they cannot afford to buy houses.

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Tony Mottram (on right with his wife Silvia and their three children) faces eviction

The offenders include prisoners without stable home addresses whom the Government would like to release on tags but fears may abscond. Also included are those on remand awaiting trial or sentence.

Tony Mottram, 47, his wife Silvia, their two children and a foster son are facing eviction from their four-bedroom house owned by the Prison Service next to Wandsworth jail in South London. He said: "Prison officers earn a pittance and I cannot afford to buy a home in London."

Justice Secretary Jack Straw asked magistrates to jail fewer people while officials tackle the overcrowding crisis

The Prison Officers Association will challenge the Ministry of Justice in the High Court next month. General Secretary Brian Caton said: "It is crazy to evict loyal public servants in favour of convicted criminals.

It is a direct result of the Government's appalling neglect of the criminal justice system. It was warned ten years ago that it needed to build more prisons."

Britain's overfilled jails are at "panic stations" as they lurch from crisis to crisis, the chief inspector of prisons warned in an Observer interview today.

The row dates from the Seventies when nearly all officers lived in Prison Service quarters. In 1987, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher offered workers the chance to buy their homes from the State. However, many could not afford to and remained tenants.

But with overflowing prisons and a £1billion cut to its budget, the Ministry of Justice has now decided to sell the homes to the private sector, raising an estimated £150million. The properties will then be leased back to the Prison Service and used to house offenders.

Just before Christmas, the Ministry of Justice served "Notices to Quit" on the remaining officers in Prison Service quarters. Leaflets, some nailed to front doors, ordered them to find alternative accommodation by May or face eviction.

Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said: "This Government has ignored repeated warnings about jail capacity and people will be astonished to find that prisoners are being housed in residential areas rather than behind bars. The safety of the public is being threatened by serial ministerial incompetence."

Lawyers for the Prison Officers Association claim that workers have a right to remain in the properties while in the employment of the Government. They are fighting a test case next month involving a prison officer from Chelmsford, Essex, and the result is likely to decide all 600 cases.

Many of the properties affected are in London, including 90 at Wormwood Scrubs and a dozen each at Pentonville, Feltham and Wandsworth.

The Ministry of Justice said: "The Prison Service stopped providing prison officers with houses in 1987 and they were given a pay rise to reflect the changes. Most went on to purchase their homes. The remaining officers pay a heavily subsidised rent.

"All officers are being given time to find new accommodation before they are required to leave."

The Ministry refused to comment on the movement of prisoners into the homes, but The Mail on Sunday has learned that voluntary group Action Acton is in talks with the Government over converting one of the Wormwood Scrubs properties into a bail hostel.

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