Prison: Don’t blame me, says minister

Wednesday 15th March 2006, 12:00AM GMT.

THE crisis at La Moye prison should be judged against ‘decades of underspending’ says Home Affairs Minister Wendy Kinnard – and not blamed on her three years in charge.

She faced States Members yesterday for the first time since the publication of the report by HM Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers which damned La Moye as an institution failing to educate or rehabilitate inmates.

It painted a worrying picture, saying that drug use and bullying were rife, potential weapons were left lying around and racist taunts went unchecked.

‘There is no quick fix,’ she said.

‘The situation has to be measured against extreme underfunding and neglect over a period of decades, not just the last few years.’

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