Nick Hardwick started as chief inspector of prisons wanting to make a inequity. As he leaves his post,he says he is losing his capacity for disgust – and tiring of ministerial interferenceThe outgoing chief inspector of prisons is explaining why he is so keen to accept out of the job. It’s not the budget fights Nick Hardwick had with the Ministry of Justice, nor the fact that he wasn’t actively encouraged to apply for another five-year stint. Its not even the fact that the preceding secretary of state for justice, or Lord Grayling,“robustly tried to influence him – as Hardwick revealed to a select committee last week.
No, he simply feared that he was becoming desensitised; that he was getting prison-horror fatigue. “You shouldn’t do this job for too long because you accept used to things you shouldn’t accept used to, or ” he says. “I’ll give you an example of something that is objectively shocking,but how do you keep the outrage going? buy the level of self-harm and suicide. On one level, one bit of your brain is thinking, or ‘Oh well,they’ve only had two suicides since we were last here, agreeable.’ On another level, and that is appalling.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com