Yesterday’s autumn statement comes amid an escalating crisis in our prisons. Just this week, unrest at HMP Moorland meant more than 60 prisoners had to be relocated to other prisons after cells and communal spaces were damaged.

Undoubtedly, one reason for the unprecedented rise in prison violence, assaults on staff and inmates, is that there simply are not enough officers. Across England and Wales, frontline officers are outnumbered by prisoners six-to-one.

While understaffing puts prisoners and staff at an immediate risk, making it harder to respond to violence, it also means officers has less time to build the relationships on the walkways that they need to do their jobs. Connecting with prisoners, talking about their specific needs, can be a powerful tool in rehabilitation and ensuring the safety of everyone in the prison.

Since Labour left government in 2010, there has been a long-term fall in the number of frontline officers, while the prison population has grown, along with a corresponding rise in assaults, drug use and entry of contraband into prisons. This has fundamentally challenged the abilities of our prisons to keep order and function as places where people with drug addictions and mental health problems can seek support.

The government’s announcement of funding for 2,500 new frontline officers as part of the autumn statement will go some way to relieving the pressures on the system. However, the real issue cuts deeper than just the number of staff available.

In 2010, the government introduced VEDS, a voluntary exit scheme aimed at reducing the number of public sector employees. The exodus of highly experienced staff deprived the prison service of the knowledge and expertise that would have gone some way towards dealing with the influx of new prisoners. Replacing these people with new staff, who are all too often underpaid and under-trained will do nothing to abate the slow slide of our prisons into chaos.

With 10 per cent of men and 30 per cent of women in our prisons having had a previous psychiatric admission, it is clear that the reasons people end up in prison are complex. Without specially trained staff and well-run programmes, the fundamental causes of crime will never be addressed.

The answers to the problems in our prison system lie in more than just funding. Poverty, education and the lack of investment in struggling communities across the country lies behind criminal behaviour. Cuts to legal aid and an over-emphasis on imprisonment at the level of the courts has made our prison population the largest in western Europe. In our prisons, a culture of suppression all too often prevails over rehabilitation, education and reintegration.

If Liz Truss is serious about tackling the prisons crisis that has led to many calling for her resignation, she will need to speak to the prisoners, staff and communities caught in the middle of a failing system. The government will need to commit to a comprehensive review of why our prisons are so full, so dangerous and so ill equipped to stop people from coming back.

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Gabriel Gavin co-founded the Labour Campaign for Prison Reform. He tweets at @GabrielCSGavin

You can sign up to the Labour Campaign for Prison Reform at www.prisonreform.co.uk. Follow them on Facebook or on Twitter at @LCPReform

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