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Prison ombudsman quits due to "unacceptable" Prison Service

26/06/2008

Stephen Shaw, the prison and probation ombudsman, has resigned as chair of an inquiry into the treatment of a young woman who self-harmed while in prison.

Mr Shaw has accused the Prison Service of blocking his investigation.

The inquiry was looking into the treatment of the girl who was in custody between 2003 and 2005.

She repeatedly tried to take her own life and injure herself whilst in prison and was placed in solitary confinement, a measure usually used as a punishment.

In his resignation letter, Mr Shaw said the Prison Service was trying to "control what other parties can and cannot see", including preventing "unfettered access" to all documents and staff involved in the investigation.

He continued to criticise the service and its "inconsistent approach to this inquiry, by the attempt to dictate how I should conduct the investigation, and by the lack of focus on the core issue: life-threatening self-harm amongst so many young women prisoners".

Director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, Frances Crook, said today: "It is unacceptable for an independent inquiry to be interfered with and clearly the prisons and probation ombudsman has had enough at attempts to undermine his authority.

"The show must go on however, and given the difficulties Stephen Shaw encountered, it is imperative that the inquiry should be placed on a statutory footing with an independent legally qualified chair.

"This public inquiry will reveal the miserable and barbaric way that women have been treated in prisons that leads directly to self-injury and suicide."