UK: HMP Northumberland prison officer: 'We have lost control of the jail'

A prison officer at HMP Northumberland has told an undercover reporter ‘we have lost control of the jail’, as shocking footage reveals major lapses of security, intoxicated prisoners and beleaguered staff. In tonight’s episode of BBC Panorama, a journalist experiences life inside the Acklington-based Category C adult prison. He discovers how inmates are effectively running the prison and smuggling in drugs and finds prisoners who are blatantly high or drunk.

Panorama, the world’s longest running current affairs TV programme, also reveals how some prison officers don’t feel able to maintain control and are feeling at risk themselves. One member of staff says there is ‘no discipline at all, [we have] lost control of the jail, yes they go behind the doors but they run the jail, they do because they get whatever they want whenever they want it’ and the undercover reporter is told: ‘you will be assaulted, one way or another you will be assaulted in your career.’ The prison has been run by Sodexo Justice Services since 2013. A number of officers say that they feel overwhelmed, unsafe and unable to respond to situations. One officer tells Panorama that ‘a lot of times stuff happens, but I can’t respond in the way I’d want to because there’s not the back up there - I don’t feel safe, ever.’

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