PRISONS in Worcestershire have seen the number of officers cut by as much as 48 percent in less than four years.

Figures, obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform today (Monday), reveal across the West Midlands the number of prison officers in the regions jails has been cut by 38 percent.

In Redditch, HMP Hewell has seen a reduction of 48 percent as the number of officers dropped from 330 in August 2012 to 170 in June 2014. This is the largest reduction in numbers in the West Midlands despite the prison having a population of 1,289.

HMP Long Lartin, a high security prison, in South Littleton, near Evesham, has faced a loss of 28 percent as numbers of officers went from 596 to 403 in the same time frame. The prison population is 596.

Research published by the Howard League for Penal Reform shows that, across England and Wales, there were only 14,170 officer grade staff working in prisons run by the state at the end of June 2014. There were more than 24,000 at the end of August 2010.

But this includes 1,375 officer posts that were lost when 15 public-sector prisons were closed during the period.

In the West Midlands region, officer numbers have been cut from 1,917 to 1,180.

The drop in officer numbers has coincided with a deepening prison overcrowding crisis and an alarming rise in the number of self-inflicted deaths in custody.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “The prison system is in crisis, and these figures reveal why. While the prison population has grown, officer numbers have been cut without any thought for the consequences.

“A shortage of governors makes matters even worse, because officers are being taken off the wings and asked to ‘act up’ to fill vacancies."

The charity’s findings were supported by the Prison Governors’ Association and the prison officers’ union, the POA, who urged the government to act.

Since then, the damaging impact of staff cuts has been highlighted in a series of inspection reports published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons.