Whistleblowers' fears could lead to Mid Staffordshire-style scandal in prisons, MP warns

Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, said a member of prison staff at HMP Featherstone faced disciplinary action after he was approached in confidence by a number of prison officers over how staffing shortages were causing concerns over safety.

Mr Willaimson said: "It's a totally disgraceful situation and goes against everything that we want to be seeing within the public sector, where whistleblowing needs to be encouraged when the concerns of those working within the system are not being addressed internally."

Mr Williamson said he was approached over the rising levels of violence, and that inmates were not being brought to justice for attacks against staff and how short staffing was affecting safety.

"They are taking an arrogant and high-handed attitude towards pursuing prison officers who have raised issues they are concerned about perfectly legitimately either through their MP or through other means," he said.

"The right for people to whistleblow must always be there. We have seen what happened in Mid Staffs hospital and we don't want a repeat of that. I fear that that is the route the prison service seems to be going down. If people aren't able to speak up and say this is wrong, then the public services will be weaker for that."

He has taken the concerns to the prisons' minister and the Ministry of Justice.

The Midlands houses some of Britain's most notorious prisons with HMYOI Brinsford being rated as the country's worst.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "It is completely untrue to suggest that any member of staff raising legitimate concerns will face disciplinary actions. Any concerns raised by staff members are taken extremely seriously. The department has a policy which encourages staff to raise concerns to nominated officials or the confidential wrongdoing hotline."