Open expression of concern
George Coombs | 08.09.2011 19:04 | South Coast | World
I am actively involved in supporting people in prison and those hurt by our "justice" system and write to express concern regarding the treatment of those detained at Woodhill CSC. I am well aware that these are prisoners some of whom have mental health issues and are unlikely to be helped by some of the reports that have reached me.
Open Expression Of Concern Regarding the Treatment of Prisoners at Woodhill Close supervision Centre -
I am actively involved in supporting people in prison and those hurt by our "justice" system and write to express concern regarding the treatment of those detained at Woodhill CSC. I am well aware that these are prisoners some of whom have mental health issues and are unlikely to be helped by some of the reports that have reached me. For example one man has told me that “On 6/10/98 I was assaulted in my cell on C wing by a senior bully and for no reason at all, he struck me across the nose causing a lot of blood loss...I was forced out of my cell and onto my knees while my jeans were searched...i was taken to a strip cell and I was certain my jeans and y fronts were bein gpulled off by a female officer... – I have heard reports of strip searches carried out all to frequently and amounting to “sexual assault.” Recently a man with a propensity for self harm cut off one of his ears and, some time later, was able to cut off the other ear.
I have also been made aware of frequent assaults on prisoners for no good reason at all. This is a brief overview of matters coming to my attention and one has to wonder how can assaults, strip searches amounting to “sexual assaults” and inadequete care for individuals tending to self harm be commensurate with aany kind of therapeutic environment? Dostoevsky once said that you can tell the state of a nation by the way it treats its prisoners. This letter is part of a disconcerting accumulation of information that has come my way and clearly things are not right as they are. Not by a long way and it would be my hope that the treatment of prisoners at Unit 6a HMP Woodville will be subjected to a full, focused and impartial review.
I am actively involved in supporting people in prison and those hurt by our "justice" system and write to express concern regarding the treatment of those detained at Woodhill CSC. I am well aware that these are prisoners some of whom have mental health issues and are unlikely to be helped by some of the reports that have reached me. For example one man has told me that “On 6/10/98 I was assaulted in my cell on C wing by a senior bully and for no reason at all, he struck me across the nose causing a lot of blood loss...I was forced out of my cell and onto my knees while my jeans were searched...i was taken to a strip cell and I was certain my jeans and y fronts were bein gpulled off by a female officer... – I have heard reports of strip searches carried out all to frequently and amounting to “sexual assault.” Recently a man with a propensity for self harm cut off one of his ears and, some time later, was able to cut off the other ear.
I have also been made aware of frequent assaults on prisoners for no good reason at all. This is a brief overview of matters coming to my attention and one has to wonder how can assaults, strip searches amounting to “sexual assaults” and inadequete care for individuals tending to self harm be commensurate with aany kind of therapeutic environment? Dostoevsky once said that you can tell the state of a nation by the way it treats its prisoners. This letter is part of a disconcerting accumulation of information that has come my way and clearly things are not right as they are. Not by a long way and it would be my hope that the treatment of prisoners at Unit 6a HMP Woodville will be subjected to a full, focused and impartial review.
George Coombs
