Assault, screaming and sensory overload: Inside HMP Elmley where ‘every day is unpredictable’
As we walked to one of the wings at HMP Elmley – there was screaming.
Persistent screaming from a prisoner.
He lifted up his top, revealing numerous scars across his body, and shouted: “This is what Elmley does to you! Self harm! This is what Elmley is doing!”
The rate of self harm in the male prison estate across England and Wales rose by 25% in the last year, so this isn’t uncommon. But quite quickly, it offered an evocative snapshot of life inside.
We went through security at about 7.45am on a weekday morning, before heading into a briefing with the governor about what to expect from our day at Elmley, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
Just as she said the word “unpredictable”, an alarm went off. The duty governor’s walkie-talkie was buzzing. He left the room.
A member of staff had been violently assaulted during morning unlock.
HMP Elmley is currently operating with a 65% remand population
The staff member was ok. But it was violent.
Officer Price, who manages the wing, told Sky News it’s symptomatic of tight conditions, particularly in the winter as the heating is on and the cells are hot.
“A lot of frustration builds up. It means there’s more chance of violence going up, of self harm going up, because they are spending so much time looking at the same four walls. One of my staff members got assaulted this morning – that is proof in the pudding,” he said.
At points here over the last six months they’ve had just four free cell spaces, operating at almost 100% capacity.
On Tuesday, the government is releasing another round of prisoners early in an effort to free up space across an overcrowded prison estate.
Eligible offenders can be freed after serving 40% of their sentence. It’s a measure they’re trialling for 18 months.
Alongside this, they’ve launched a review of sentencing policy led by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke who will be considering the effectiveness of fines and tougher community sentences, as an alternative to custody.
When the cells are hot ‘frustration’ among inmates builds up
The population pressures in this prison have been a bit better in recent weeks, but still, you can feel the friction.
The governor told us at times recently it’s felt like “a pressure cooker”, made worse by a summer of riots where there were “daily calls” to check that “every bed” was being used.
‘Every day is unpredictable’
What strikes you inside is just how loud it is – all the time.
This was by all accounts not the worst day inside a prison. In fact, it felt fairly typical.
But it was just so loud. Absolutely everywhere. Even when the prisoners were locked up – one inmate was blaring loud music from behind his cell door. It was a complete sensory overload.
Some of the staff told us that they’d developed hearing problems as a result of working inside.
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“Every day is unpredictable, you don’t know what you’re coming into,” said Officer Musmeci.
Asked what a bad day looks like, she reels off a list: “It could be fighting a fire, it could be giving CPR, it could be stopping a giant fight, a near on riot, it could be anything.
“Some days you come in and you’ve got all of that in one day. Some days you’ve got none of it,” she said.
Any time outside the cells feels frenetic.
We watched prisoners head from the wing to the servery as they got their lunch. I was asking staff about the food options but had to repeat my question a few times before I actually heard what they said.
‘The noise is like nothing I’d experienced before’
The clashing, the banging, the shouting. The noise is like nothing I’d experienced before.
The food options were screamed not said.
‘A revolving door’
On the menu was a tomato pasta dish, falafel and couscous, a chicken pie slice, or a cheese and tomato roll. The prison spends £3 a day per inmate on food.
It might not sound like a lot of money to spend on a person’s diet, and yet prisoners here suggest people being released are wanting to return to keep a roof over their head. They question the effectiveness of early release measures.
Matt, who is on remand for drug offences, told me it’s like “a revolving door”.
“I’m seeing a lot of people being released homeless. They’re coming back for breaches of one sort of another, because they’d rather be in prison. They want a roof over their head,” he said.
Timothy, also in prison for drug offences, said the same: “You’ve got people now that break the law purposefully because they haven’t got anywhere to live.
“I can name four people off the top of my head, but there’s more, that cause damage to come back because they haven’t got anywhere to live.”
This is predominately a remand jail – many are waiting to be sentenced or awaiting trial.
The prison is set up to be about 40% remand. They’re currently operating with a 65% remand population. Many of them only stay for a short amount of time, which makes purposeful activity much more restricted.
The governor told Sky News at times recently it’s felt like ‘a pressure cooker’
“It can be very difficult”, said Mandy Huggins, head of education at Elmley. “There’s a high churn.”
We’re inside the laundry room where the more serious offenders work.
“What it means is that you have a higher level of unemployed prisoners. The last thing we want is people in their cells longer than they need to be. Or people that want to work that aren’t able to,” Ms Huggins said.
You can tell the staff really care about implementing these schemes. Success for Ms Huggins is “impacting the prisoners’ lives”.
But with population pressures the way they are, almost everything is more difficult. And there’s some way to go before the prison estate is out of this crisis.
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From September: ‘There wasn’t one space on the prison wing’
The government said it “inherited prisons in crisis, within days of collapse” and is clear it is implementing measures such as the review of sentencing to “ensure we never again have more prisoners than prison spaces”.
It said it has been “forced to introduce an early release programme to stop a crisis that would have overwhelmed the criminal justice system, meaning we would no longer be able to lock up dangerous criminals and protect the public”.
The government has pledged to recruit 1,000 more trainee probation officers by March 2025.
Hundreds of people affected by the Manchester Arena bombing cannot continue legal action against MI5, judges have ruled.
More than 300 people, including survivors and those bereaved by the 2017 attack at an Ariana Grande concert, brought a case to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), claiming failures to take “appropriate measures” to prevent the incident infringed their human rights.
In a ruling on Friday, Lord Justice Singh and Mrs Justice Farbey said the cases could not proceed as they were brought too late.
Lord Justice Singh said: “We are particularly conscious of the importance of the rights concerned… We are also conscious of the horrendous impact of the atrocity on the claimants and their families.
“Any reasonable person would have sympathy for them.
“The grief and trauma which they have suffered, particularly where young children were killed, is almost unimaginable.
“Nevertheless, we have reached the conclusion that, in all the circumstances, it would not be equitable to permit the claims to proceed.”
File pic: AP
Lord Justice Singh acknowledged that while the tribunal “readily understand” why the legal claims were not filed until after the final report from the inquiry into the attack, “real expedition” was needed at that point.
The judge added: “We bear in mind the other matters that had to be investigated and arrangements which had to be put in place but, in our view, the filing of the proceedings was not given the priority which, assessed objectively, it should have been.”
Had the claims gone ahead, the judge noted the security services would have needed to “divert time and resources to defending these proceedings rather than their core responsibilities” – which includes preventing future attacks.
Salman Abedi killed 22 people and injured hundreds when he detonated a rucksack bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande show at Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017.
Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi
Hudgell Solicitors, Slater & Gordon and Broudie Jackson Canter, three of the law firms representing complainants affected, said the ruling was “extremely disappointing” for their clients.
In a statement, the firms said: “Ever since the attack in May 2017, our clients have had to endure continued delays but have done so with great patience and understanding in the hope that by allowing all legal processes to be fully explored, transparency and justice would be achieved.
“It took almost six years for the failings of MI5 to be revealed, confirmed when the inquiry chair published his volume three findings in March 2023, in which he said MI5 had missed a ‘significant opportunity’ to prevent the attack.
“This report concluded that within this six-year period, the security service corporate witnesses X and J gave evidence on oath that had presented an inaccurate picture, and the same inaccurate picture had been presented to Lord Anderson when he compiled his report in December 2017.”
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The law firms said following these findings, their clients believed the IPT would “provide the route to the formal vindication of their human rights”.
The firms added: “We are disappointed that time is one of the reasons now being used against them to prevent their claims progressing. Seven years have now passed since the atrocity in May 2017 – six years of that seven-year delay was caused by MI5.
“This judgment certainly doesn’t exonerate MI5. There were failings by MI5 and multiple other parties leading up to and on the actual evening of 22 May 2017 and collectively we continue to support our clients in their fight for full accountability and justice.”
Police with members of the public after the attack. Pic: PA
The inquiry into the bombing found it might have been prevented if MI5 had acted on key intelligence received in the months before the attack.
The agency’s director-general, Ken McCallum, expressed deep regret that such intelligence was not obtained.
Two pieces of information about Abedi were assessed at the time by the security service to not relate to terrorism.
But inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said, having heard from MI5 witnesses at the hearings, he considered that did not present an “accurate picture”.
Lawyers for those affected previously said the inquiry found there was a “real possibility” that one of the pieces of intelligence could have obtained information which may have led to actions preventing the attack.
And at the hearing earlier this month, Pete Weatherby KC, for those affected, described the IPT claims as “the next step” in vindication for his clients after the inquiry’s findings.
Many areas of Britain faced frosty and icy conditions this morning ahead of the arrival of Storm Bert tomorrow.
The Met Office said it expects the storm to bring “heavy rain, strong winds and disruptive snow to parts of the UK through the weekend” and potentially cause travel disruption and flooding.
Much of the UK experienced temperatures close to freezing last night, the Met Office said, with -6C (21.2F) recorded at Tulloch Bridge in Scotland.
Check the forecast in your area
Snowy conditions in the village of Goathland, North York Moors National Park. Pic: PA
Several yellow warnings for snow and ice were in place across the UK until 10am on Friday, while one covering parts of Scotland will remain in place until midday.
They came ahead of an amber warning for heavy snow and ice in place between 7am and 5pm on Saturday in central parts of Scotland.
The Met Office said 10-20cm of snow was likely on ground above 200m and there could be as much as 20-40cm on hills above 400m.
Several other yellow alerts for wind, rain and snow will also cover much of the UK.
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Met Office meteorologist Honor Criswick said: “Through into Friday… snow showers are set to continue mainly around coastal areas though once again still a few feeding inland at times.
“There will also still be plenty of autumnal sunshine. Still feeling cold though, particularly in those brisk winds – once again we’re only looking at highs of around 5C, slightly higher in the southwest around 7C.
“Across the north those temperatures struggling to move past 2-3C.
“As we head into Friday evening, a change is on its way as we introduce Storm Bert moving its way in from the Atlantic. So we’ll see clouds spilling in from the southwest with outbreaks of rain – heavy at times by the time we reach Saturday morning.”
A woman braves the snow in Aviemore, Scotland. Pic: Reuters
“Heavy” outbreaks of rain are likely throughout Saturday, “falling as snow” at times across parts of England and Scotland, Ms Criswick said.
More than 114 schools were shut in the Highland Council area on Thursday because of snow, almost 40 were shut in Aberdeenshire and 12 were closed in Moray.
In England, 89 schools were shut in Devon, 60 in Cornwall and 18 in Dorset, while in Wales 18 were closed in Denbighshire, 10 in Conwy and two in Wrexham.
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