Report: Liverpool prison performance 'is of concern'

The overall performance of Liverpool's Walton Prison "is of concern" according to a new report.

HMP Liverpool got an overall rating of two, which suggests concern.

Meanwhile, Altcourse Prison in Fazakerley, which is privately-run, got a three rating - which means it is meeting the majority of its targets.

The annual performance ratings for prisons were published by the National Offender Management Service.

In January a prison officer at HMP Liverpool was taken to hospital following an incident and, in an earlier incident in the same month, a further three staff members were hurt.

Andrew Neilson, the director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said there are "many people currently in prison who have not committed serious or violent crimes" and suggested alternative ways of dealing with those people.

"That would leave places like Walton able to focus on the serious and violent crime that the public is most concerned about," Mr Neilson said.

He said with old Victorian prisons "quite a bit of money" is spent on the infrastructure. He said the numbers need looking at "and whether that is reasonable given the resources that the prison system has".

The Ministry of Justice said in a statement: "Some of our prisons are not performing as well as they should. As the Justice Secretary said, our prison estate is out-of-date, overcrowded and in far too many cases insanitary and inadequate.

"In the short term, the Prison Service works closely with any prison which is falling short to help them take urgent action to improve."

The MOJ statement added: "In the longer term we are developing plans to replace old, dilapidated prisons with new buildings, and to improve rehabilitation and education so that prisoners can lead more productive and more moral lives, both inside and on release."

Altcourse Prison, operated by G4S, was the first private prison in the UK.