Moth calls on Government to act over prisons crisis

URGENT ACTION needs to be taken by the Government following findings by MPs that show funding cuts to the prison service have resulted in overcrowding and an increase in suicides, self-harm and assaults, according to a senior Catholic cleric.

Bishop Richard Moth, the Church spokesman on prisoners, also warned that under-resourcing meant some prisoners are unable to access chaplaincy services and attend worship.

Bishop Moth made his comments after the publication of a Home Affairs Select Committee report into the results of a cut in the prisons budget over the course of the last parliament of £900 million. The report found that from January 2013 to January 2015, the prison population rose from 83,062 to 83,680.