Christopher Wellbelove

Mayor of Lambeth with Councillor Imogen Walker outside Brixton Prison

Brixton prisons original buildings date from 1819. In 1862 the prison was sold to the Government and converted into a prison for females. Twenty years later it was again converted, this time as a military prison, and in 1898, when it was returned to the Prison Commissioners, the buildings were enlarged and improved and made the trial and remand prison for the whole of the London area. The prison now serves a number of courts in South London and houses a mixture of male remand and sentenced prisoners.

Brixton Prison clearly has many challenges driven by its age and lack of space to provide additional services to inmates – however it was clear that officers and the Governor Amy Rees where clearly dedicated to doing the best they can within the current buildings.

Whilst touring the building we met many prisoners and sat down to speak with four prisoners who spoke of the challenge to break the cycle with issues such as people being ‘called back’ for minor issues such as being 10 minutes late for a parole meeting.

We were shown a small cell where two prisoners would share and it was explained that in some cells there was not a separate toilet and that prisoners have to eat and sleep in the same space as the toilet with no privacy.

We visited the prison radio station which recently won a Sony award and the Library which is run by Lambeth council. We heard of how around 30% of inmates have a low level or no literacy and the work being done to help address this whilst Prisoners are on remand.

It was certainly a long way from the Prisons you see in dramas on TV and certainly no evidence of an easy life that is sometimes depicted in the press.

What I did see was officers and some inmates working hard to try and break the cycle of reoffending in difficult circumstance and crowded conditions.