Watchdog wants public inquiry into prison policy

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - The prisons watchdog on Wednesday called for a public inquiry into penal policy in England and Wales, saying the government's criminal justice strategy was incoherent.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said she wanted to see an investigation like the 1990 Woolf inquiry into jail riots, which led to the creation of the Prisons Ombudsman.

"What is surely needed is a Royal Commission, or a major public inquiry ... which can allow wider discussion and draw on a range of experts to help develop a blueprint for a sustainable, coherent and effective penal policy for the future."

Writing in her annual report, Owers said last year's overcrowding crisis in prisons was both predicted and predictable.

"(It was) fuelled by legislation and policies which ignored consequences, cost or effectiveness, together with an absence of coherent strategic direction," she said.

"The irresistible force of rising prisoner numbers met the immovable object of limited prison places."

During November prisoner numbers rose to over 81,500, barely a hundred less than total capacity, with many held in police cells.

She said the overcrowding had contributed to a 40 percent rise in self-inflicted deaths to 88 during the 12 months to August 2007 covered by her report.