Quakers form Wandsworth Prison support group
'The WPIC consists of roughly fifteen people, with thirty-five on the circulation list, including ex-civil servants and lawyers, an ex-judge, and two mothers of young Wandsworth prisoners.'
A group of Quakers from South West London has formed a group to support Wandsworth Prison.
Gillian Ashmore, from Kingston Meeting, had the idea for the Wandsworth Prison Improvement Campaign (WPIC) after a talk by Liz Bridge, former Quaker chaplain.
The talk highlighted reports into the prison, including one from its Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) which described ithe prison as ‘unsafe and inhumane’. Conditions reflected the ‘failures of the prison system as a whole’, it said. Last year a prisoner allegedly escaped.
According to Gillian Ashmore, the talk in December ‘left the room angry, passionate and shocked.
Everything was delivered in a clear, impassionate way,’ she said. ‘But afterwards I said, “we can’t just leave the room, we have to do something!” Liz’s talk highlighted the unbelievable challenges, mostly driven by the state of the building, staff shortages and overcrowding. And once you get into serious staff shortages, all kinds of things start piling up. Lots of the inmates are on remand or awaiting deportation. Violence a huge problem, as is cleanliness and vermin. Even in the middle of winter there are a lot of days when they’ve been without heating and hot water. Showers are totally inadequate, Liz said.’
A Prison Service spokesperson said, after the IMB’s report, that it had already taken ‘decisive action’ to address the ‘serious issues’ raised and had increased frontline staffing by a quarter in the last six years, ‘investing millions into security upgrades’.
The WPIC consists of roughly fifteen people, with thirty-five on the circulation list, including ex-civil servants and lawyers, an ex-judge, and two mothers of young Wandsworth prisoners. Around two-thirds are Quakers, although it is not officially a Quaker group. ‘We’re having meetings with MPs and all sorts of bodies,’ said Gillian Ashmore.
‘Some principles we’ve laid down are that: we’re in it for the long haul – it needs ministers to prioritise this situation – and we’re not in the blame game. It would be very easy to point the finger. Everyone has a really tough job.’
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