Prison staff turn blind eye to gang activities

Prison officers and their families suffer “severe” consequences if they do not conform to unprofessional behaviour of colleagues, including actions that display a hatred towards women and people in general.

And a lack of proper management in jails has allowed gang culture to develop, resulting in them wielding “significant power” over other prisoners, with some staff “turning a blind eye”.

In a hard-hitting special report on prison culture, the inspector of prisons found staff are under “incessant pressure” to conform to behaviour which is “at best unprofessional and at worst misogynistic and even misanthropic”.