UK prisons affected by staff shortages, minister admits

Some UK prisons are affected by a shortage of staff, which puts both employees and prisoners at risk, Justice secretary Chris Grayling has recently admitted during the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Following multiple reports regarding the rapidly degrading state of the prison system, the minister said he planned to continue to deliver a safe and appropriate prison regime “in a world where budgets are much lower than they were”.

He also highlighted his previous decision in 2012 to avoid privatising a significant number of prisons preferring instead to retain the bulk of these institutions in the public sector as proposed by prison governors.

Nevertheless, the Prison Governors Association argued back that staffing levels were too low to make this proposal work.

The implementation of a very solid and reliable visitor monitoring system within prisons is another measure that could help streamline the prison officers’ activity and mitigate staff shortages, and this is specifically where Tensor Prison Pass will prove its worth.

Our Prison Pass solution is a low cost, easy to install, computer based pass system for registering each visitor, both on and off site that will enable HM Prison Service Officers to quickly check the identity and monitor the movements of visitors.

A photograph taken by a digital or eyeball camera is printed on a bar-coded pass using a high speed printer so each visitor is easily identified. Then, at controlled monitor points, the visitor pass badge is simply swiped and a high quality digital image appears to the HM Prison Service Officers thus verifying that the correct person is passing through.

Additionally, biometrics can be combined with the visitor badges to operate the system. Tensor’s range of dermal fingerprint reading technology gives increased accuracy and reliability, and is perfect for when irrefutable proof of identity is required.

Tensor can offer various financing and rental packages to both private and public sector organisations who wish to install our products so, if you’d like to find out more about the Prison Pass solution or any other Tensor product, just contact us or Book a Demo.