{"id":7563,"date":"2026-09-14T14:39:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=7563"},"modified":"2026-09-14T14:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:39:48","slug":"staffing-shortages-render-new-38-million-jail-wing-redundant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/2026\/09\/14\/staffing-shortages-render-new-38-million-jail-wing-redundant\/","title":{"rendered":"STAFFING SHORTAGES RENDER NEW \u00a338 MILLION JAIL WING REDUNDANT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new prison wing at HMP Norwich, intended to provide an additional 170 extra cells, has, in fact, only added 10 due to staff shortages.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Steven Searby, the head of the Prison Officers Association at HMP Norwich, stated that without the extra staff that had been promised with the new wing, two other, existing wings were forced to shut so that officers could be redeployed. Though Norwich had originally been allocated 44 additional staff, officers were eventually informed that the extra staff were no longer needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We struggle to run a normal regime and routine every day as it is,&#8221; Mr Searby added. &#8220;We&#8217;re no different from any other jail in the country. Every single jail has chronic staffing shortages,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this month, the number of available spaces for male inmates across the prison estate in England and Wales fell to its lowest this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to the government&#8217;s plan to speed up prison building across the country, Andrea Coomber KC, Chief Executive of The Howard League for Penal Reform, commented:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;It will cost billions and it won\u2019t work. To cut crime and protect the public, the government should invest in what it knows will work \u2013 properly funding our communities, investing in probation, in education, mental health and drugs support, and building the economy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For further information, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c8d379qe128o?app-referrer=deep-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new prison wing at HMP Norwich, intended to provide an additional 170 extra cells, has, in fact, only added [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Amelie","author_link":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/author\/amelie\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A new prison wing at HMP Norwich, intended to provide an additional 170 extra cells, has, in fact, only added 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