A summer of violence and rioting predicted in our prisons

Heat is on for our crowded prisons.

The summer heat and cramped conditions will create a “perfect storm”, fuelling a summer of violent prison riots, a jail chief has warned.

With experts predicting a sweltering summer, Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector of prisons, has delivered a withering analysis of cramped jails, insisting “huge tensions” could lead to violent flashpoints.

Mr Hardwick also insists prisoners are committing suicide because of severe overcrowding.

Other inmates are deliberately getting themselves sent to punishment blocks to escape the “intolerable” conditions, which have been caused by Government cuts.

In a damning statement, Mr Hardwick says prisons are at “boiling point” due to an unexpected rise in criminals being placed behind bars.

He says the “political and policy failure” is putting the public at risk and warned that the situation is in danger of boiling over this summer after the Government admitted more prisoners would have to share cells to cope with an unexpected rise in numbers.

He said he was “very concerned” about the impact of a hot summer and said ministers must find significantly more resources or cut the number being put behind bars.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling rejected the criticisms, insisting the number of assaults and cases of self-harm were falling and that 2,000 extra prison places were being built.

He conceded that the Government had been taken by surprise by a recent surge in demand for cell space, blaming a spate of historic sex abuse cases.

But he defended his decision to order dozens of already full and overcrowded prisons to take 440 extra offenders between them as a “sensible precaution” to deal with the unanticipated squeeze.

Labour has accused the Government of incompetence, blaming the shortages on the decision to close several prisons before replacement capacity was available.

Mr Hardwick said: “Because of staff shortages, men are spending 23 hours a day, two or three to a cell with a shared toilet, locked up in this heat and that is causing huge tensions.”

Mr Grayling said assaults and self-harm were down on two years ago and there were at present 1,000 spare places.

“We have had an increase in recent weeks. A number of factors like, for example, the increased number of convictions for historic sex abuse.

“Things are a little bit tighter than we expected them to be. We might later in the summer have a capacity issue.

“So what I am doing now, in advance, is taking precautions to make sure that if that happens we can cope.”

The Ministry of Justice is trying to recruit more prison officers to overcome staff shortages and prevent trouble erupting in the overcrowded jails this summer.

Forty prisons in England and Wales have been ordered to increase their “operational capacity” in the next two months.

Among the prisons are Wandsworth, Brixton and Pentonville in London, and Leeds, Lincoln, Durham and Manchester.