!, Offenders Institute (HMYOI) Feltham as follows:

Transcription

1 ,,... WITNESS STATEMENT OF NIGEL HERRING J ' I _...,, m...!, Offenders Institute (HMYOI) Feltham as follows: : 1. I joined the Prison Service on 23 October Following initial training at. Wakefield Pdson Service College, I Was deployed to HMYOI Feltham in early January 1990 as a Prison Officer. I was promoted to Senior Officer in May Feltham is divided into 2 major blocks. Feltham A houses juveniles from the ages of Feltham B deals with older prisoners from Between January 1990 and October 2001 I worked on many residential units both on Feltham A and Feltham B, this period included 9 months on the, segregation unit and 12 months on the visits group. 2. I am currently the branch chairman of the Pdson Officers Association (POA). I... first became a member of the POA in January The POA is the recognised Trade Union for Prison Officers and other related grades. In October 1999, I was elected onto the local POA committee at Feltham. The committee comprised 7 members elected from the workforce. Their roles differed in So much as there existed a branch chairman, a branch secretary and 5 committee members. In July 2001 the POA branch endorsed the local committee's decision to appoint me as acting branch chairman. I was elected POA chairman in the subsequent January 2002 elections. I still hold this position to date, I now work full-time for the Union. I am supported by a branch secretary, Stuart Sibblck and 5 committee members. 3. The POA is managed by a National Executive Committee (NEC). The NEC is headed by a chairman, Colin Moses. He has two vice chairs, Steve Gillan and Tony Freel. In addition, there are 8 NEC committeemembers. 4. In February and March 2000 I was working as a residential officer on Kestrel Unit. Kestrel housed 60 prisoners aged between 18 and 21. My role at this time involved basic Prison Officer duties, which were day-to-day supervision of prisoners and reporting to a supervising Senior Officer. Kestrel unit is situated withinfeitham B. Mr Mubarek was housed on the Swallow unit also in Feltham B. As each unit of the pdson is self-contained, whilst I was working on Kestrel unit! had no contact with the unit where Mr Mubarek was housed. The first time I heard about Mr Mubarek was after his murder in March of Immediate'ly after Mr Mubarek's murder I was not given information about the events in an official capacity, as I was not based on the wing where Mr Mubarek was murdered. The only information that I have received about the

2 case following on from the murder was from the media and from speaking to officers who were on the scene. I was also interviewed by the police in relation to the inquiry into the "Gladiator" allegations. 6. The role played by prison officers in relation to the youths housed at Feltham has changed very much over the years I have worked there. Prior to the Prison Service becoming an agency, prison officers had more of a personal and pastoral role in relation to prisoners. We would often liaise with probation and social services, arrange counselling and complete temporary release papers. In many cases the rapport and relationship built up between prisoners and prison officers was very positive. More recently, the role has become more security based and there is less and less of a personal relationship between prisoners and prison officers. We were faced with staff shortages in the establishment, which didn't help matters. Since Mr Mubarek's death in 2000 we have more staff on the ground but our level of involvement with the prisoners is certainly still less than when I first joined the service. 7. Generally there was a good level of camaraderie between prison officers. However, I would say there was more humour and banter in the early 1990s than there was in 2000 and certainly than there is now. This is mainly because the role of prison officers has changed and to a large extent our jobs are less satisfying, given the reduction in pastoral work and personal contact with prisoners. In addition, for many years we have had to deal with a more pressurised work environment due to staff shortages, which really meant getting your head down and just doing the work. 8. Prisoners are housed on wings in either single or double cells. There are fewer double cells than single, and in March 2000 there was at least one fourman cell on each wing. When I first joined the service and started work at Feltham, prisoner on prisoner attacks were less commonplace than they are today. I would say that in the early 1990s violence within the prison began to rise and became a daily occurrence as opposed to something which was not as commonplace. 9. However, up to the time of Mr Mubarek's death I had very little experience of serious violent prisoner on prisoner attacks. The most serious was a scissors attack where one prisoner was stabbed in the chest by another, on the wing I was working on. This resulted in a serious injury but was not fatal. The attack took place in a four-man cell. I have experienced numerous assaults on staff, too many to quantify with any accuracy. However, generally fights between prisoners are an everyday occurrence. They are normally not of a serious nature and pdson officers can usually deal with these locally by splitting up prisoners. In addition, I was involved in an incident where a prisoner had to be disarmed who was carrying a makeshift knife. Serious life-threatening incidents are very rare but this is often because prisoners do not have weapons at their disposal. The potential for violence is always there within the prison because of the context that we work in, and many prisoners are violent and dangerous people

3 10. Although fights and violence occur between prisoners, this was not something that was encouraged either by me or other prison officers that I worked with. I have never placed prisoners into the same cell deliberately with the hope that a fight or some kind of violence would occur. Nor have I ever witnessed this practice by others either. 11. I have never instigated or taken part in a practice known as "Gladiator" or "Coliseum". I believe that the first I heard of this was on 18 May 2004 when I met with the NEC at their headquarters, along with the committee members from the Feltham branch of the POA. This meeting was ostensibly to deal with financial issues and the relationship between Feltham Branch of the POA and the NEC. During the meeting Steve Gillan, the Vice Chair of the NEC, raised three unexpected and bizarre subjects. He mentioned an alleged conspiracy to overthrow Colin Moses as POA Chair. He also mentioned a separate and contradictory allegation that there had been a conspiracy within the POA involving Colin Moses and me, against Andy Darken (an NEC member and previous Feltham branch chairman). Thirdly, he asked each member of the Feltham POA if they could shed any light on allegations that prisoners had been put in cells in order to encourage violence in a "gladiatorlcoliseum" like contest. I was surprised by these sudden shifts of this discussion. In particular, I was not aware prior to the meeting that the Zahid Mubarek case would be discussed. I dismissed all of the allegations and denied any involvement whatsoever. 12. The only committee member from Feltham who had previously heard rumours about "Gladiator' was lain Morse. I remember him saying that, as a member of security staff, he had heard these rumours from Feltham's Prison Liaison Officer in connection with an investigation. 13. The next day I spoke to the Governor about this and he confirmed he had also been made aware of the rumours and that they seem to have originated with the NEC. He also considered them to be nonsense. As far as I was concerned, this matter was put to rest. 14. I have read the notes of the Police interview with Tom Robson on 22 July Although he claims that he first heard of "Gladiator" or "Coliseum" from me in a conversation in late 2003, I note that he is very vague about when and where the conversation took place, about what was said, and even about whether it really was me that he was speaking to. In fact, no such conversation with me ever took place. I am absolutely certain of this. Also, I am confident that I first heard the rumours of "Gladiator" or "Coliseum" on 18 May 2004, as described above. As I told the Police, I could not swear that nobody has ever previously mentioned such a thing in my presence but I have no recollection of it, and I believe that! would have most definitely remembered it. 15. I would also like to emphasize that I have not witnessed or taken part in banter malicious or otherwise about Mr Mubarek's death. This whole situation was particularly harrowing for the prison and for those involved. I have never made light of Mr Mubarek's death or the events leading up to his death, and have never heard anybody within the prison doing so. If Mr

4 Robson gives a different impression, then this is wholly misleading. 16. The next I heard about the "Gladiator allegations was on 27 May 2004 when I spoke to the Governor and he told me that a story would appear in the press the following day alleging that officers at Feltham had instigated violence between prisoners. He thought that I should be made aware in my capacity as the local Union Chairman. The Governor was also aware that I was attending the POA National Conference that week in Portsmouth from 24 May 2004 to 28 May 2004, and that I could be asked to comment on the allegations at Conference the next day. The Governor then sent round a circular dated 28 May 2004 to say that this would be investigated by the Police and Prison Service. 17. On 28 May whilst I was at the POA Conference I read an article in the "Sun" Newspaper, which set out in detail the nature of the allegations of improper conduct by prison officers at Feltham. I was shocked and angry at the allegations, which are totally untrue. Steve Gillan (NEC Vice Chair), was mentioned in the article and I was concerned that he had spoken to the press without first consulting the POA Branch at Feltham. Furthermore, Colin Moses (Chair of the NEC) and Tom Robson (an NEC Committee member) had attended Feitham to speak with the Governor on 10 May 2004 with the deliberate intent of not having a Branch member of the POA present. 18. Given that the NEC had failed to follow Union protocol and procedures, a vote of "No Confidence" was proposed against Tom Robson and Colin Moses on the basis that they had failed to interact with the Union branch when they visited management at Feltham. The vote was also in relation to Steve Gillan who had spoken to the press without adequate consultation with the branch. The vote was carried against all three parties, but because it was only decided by our branch they retained their posts on the NEC. The General Secretary was officially informed of the decision on 25 June I have wondered why my name might have been linked with these rumours. Well before the rumours emerged, there was already very bad feeling between the Feltham branch of the POA and the NEC. Indeed, Tom Robson also refers to this in his Police interview. I supplied the Police with a file of relevant correspondence which clearly demonstrates the bad feeling, and it can be made available to this Inquiry on request although it largely concerns matters with which the Inquiry is not concerned. The bad feeling was very noticeable from a memorandum to the NEC from Tom Robson on 29 March 2004 containing various criticisms of the Feltham branch and from my 6-page response dated 14 April The rumours, and the conduct of the NEC in speaking to the press about them, only made things worse. 20. It is possible that these matters have influenced the way in which some POA officials have behaved in relation to me. I have read the Police interview with Duncan Keys, who claims to be the "best friend" of Mr Robson. He identifies himself as having responsibility for matters including press and media, which presumably includes the earlier contact with "The Sun". I note his admission that he had no reason to believe I ever had any involvement in any "Gladiator" practice, despite what he told the CRE. 21. I also think that Mr Keys' evidence is misleading when he describes the Feltham POA committee (first interview tape page 11) as having "some reluctance... to come to the POA headquarters... to discuss this matter'

5 This seems to suggest that we had something to hide. It is quite true that we were invited to attend a meeting taking place on 4 May 2004 to discuss this, Inquiry and, after requesting more details of the agenda, on 30 April 2004 I replied that we would not be attending. But I remind the Inquiry that this was before I had ever heard the "Gladiator" rumours, and therefore that subject had no relevance to the meeting in question so far as we were concerned. We had been invited to a meeting with an ill-defined brief of discussing the Inquiry on a date when we had already arranged a meeting of our own, and we considered the proposal inappropriate as contemporaneous letters record. 22. Finally I disagree with what Mr Keys told the Police about the feasibility of any "Gladiator" practice. Incoming prisoners are allocated to units by Officers at Reception, who do not interact with prisoners once they are on the units and who simply make the best use of available space. On the units, an Officer could decide to move a prisoner. This is often done for operational or behavioural reasons. However, two Officers are required to move a prisoner. At any time there may be between two and four Officers on duty in any one unit. A prisoner who is unhappy about a move will usually complain. If he gets no joy from one Officer he will try another. Many choose to confide in the female Officers if they are aggrieved. Officers are allocated to various duties in rotation. For all of these reasons, any "Gladiator" practice would have to involve the complicity of many Officers. The great majority of Officers have complete commitment to the welfare of the prisoners and would not shrink from reporting any misconduct of this kind within a short time. No such practice could survive or be kept secret. 23. The next I heard of the "Gladiator" allegations was on 25 June 2004 when Martin Bright, a journalist at "The Observer", telephoned me to advise me that he was writing an article about the Zahid Mubarek case. He told me that my name was at the centre of the "Gladiator/Coliseum" story. I spoke to the Governor afterwards who confirmed the situation. 24. I was subsequently contacted by the police to give a statement for their inquiry into the allegations. My first statement was a full interview with questions and answers, which was taped. This was summarised into a witness statement, which is dated 2 September I stand by the contents of that statement in full. 25. In particular, in my police statement I state that I dismiss the "Gladiator/Coliseum" allegations. This is because it is a false rumour. However, I should clarify that if I had received a credible allegation about "Gladiator" I would have immediately reported this to my Governor. I would expect any such report to be treated with the utmost seriousness. The same goes for "wind up" or any other practice aimed at endangering prisoners, of which I have no knowledge whatseever. 26._ I have never been involved in any practice which subjects prisoners to violence or the serious risk of violence. I take u_erly seriously my commitment to the welfare of the prisoners. The only time that my name has appeared in connection with a word such as "gladiator" before my meeting with the NEC on 18 May 2004 was when I wrote an article in the "Gatelodge" magazine about a prison officer who acted bravely during a prison riot and I used the terms "Spartacus" and "gladiator" to describe his actions. I do not believe that this has any logical link with the allegations which I have mentioned above. Incidentally "Gatelodge" is a bi-monthly published union

6 magazine, a publication of the Pdson Officers Association. I have contributed detailed entries since December Finally I would like to add that there is another Nigel Herring who is a Prison Officer at Feltham. I have no reason to believe that he is in any way concerned with these matters, but I mention him in case the Inquiry wishes to explore any possibility of confusion between us. Signed:... _._..._... NIGEL HERRING Dated:... f.._.._...,/...._