BOSSES at Portland Young Offender Institution have stressed they have a ‘safe and decent environment’ after a charity called for reform on prison overcrowding.
The Howard League for Penal Reform say three in four men’s jails in England and Wales are holding more people than they are designed for.
The League said 64 of the 75 category B and category C prisons had populations larger than their Certified Normal Accommodation levels – the prison service’s measure of how many prisoners can be held safely and decently.
The figures show that Portland YOI has a Certified Normal Accommodation level of 464 and for January 2015 the population was 508, showing overcrowding by 44 people.
In comparison the most overcrowded prison was Leeds according to the Howard League. Designed to accommodate 669 prisoners, the Category B jail was in fact holding 1,218 at the end of January 2015.
Governor at Portland YOI, James Lucas, said that currently they had 506 men on their roll – well below their operational capacity of 580.
He said: “The operational capacity is kept under constant review between myself and the Deputy Director of Custody for the South West region.
“Our operational capacity maintains a safe, decent and secure environment in the prison and I am content with our current numbers.”
When asked by the Echo if the YOI was overcrowded, Mr Lucas said it was not.
He added that a very small number of adult Category C prisoners shared cells but that all the young offenders, aged 18-21, had the opportunity to have their own cell under safeguarding practices.
Mr Lucas said: “Decency is of paramount importance for all of us at the YOI. That’s not only how many men share a cell, it’s how often they are unlocked and the purposeful activity they carry out whilst unlocked.”
Prisons Minister Andrew Selous said: "We always have enough space within our prisons to accommodate all offenders, and will never be in a position where we can't imprison those sentenced by the courts.
"All prisons have safe population levels and published statistics show that crowding is at its lowest levels since 2007/08.
"This Government has considerably increased the adult male prison capacity from the level inherited at the end of the last Parliament."
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