Jail `torture': 43 officers accused

POLICE FILES on 43 prison officers accused of brutality and torture have been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service after the biggest criminal investigation at a British prison.

The allegations include claims that inmates at Wormwood Scrubs in west London were beaten, burnt with cigarettes, forced to eat paper and subjected to obscene abuse about members of their families.

Claims of pre-planned beatings, racism and other assaults have been made by around 80 prisoners and former inmates.

Most of the original complaints were by black prisoners. One said he was forced to eat a "Black is Beautiful" poster that was taken from his wall. Many white prisoners have also now come forward claiming they were brutally treated.

A Metropolitan Police investigation team has passed 43 separate files to the CPS, each detailing evidence against an individual prison officer. The investigation, which has so far considered the allegations of 46 victims, is ongoing.

As well as possible charges of actual or grievous bodily harm, crown prosecutors can consider charges of torture, which exist under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, in respect of premeditated acts of violence by those in official positions.

The CPS is expected to announce its decisions within two weeks.

The Prison Service has suspended 15 officers on full pay, including a junior governor. The remaining 28 are continuing to work or have left the service.

Last night, the Prison Officers' Association claimed that some of the allegations, which cover the last six years, were the result of "bandwagon jumping", following initial allegations of brutality by five prisoners over a year ago.

Tom Robson, a member of the POA's national executive committee, said: "We are not above the law and we do need to be questioned about our actions but it is turning into an open season on prison officers."

The investigation into the allegations of brutality at Wormwood Scrubs has grown and grown. The Prison Service initially commissioned its own internal inquiry, headed by Peter Atherton. His findings were passed to the police, who had already started an investigation.

A Metropolitan Police major inquiry team probed allegations relating to the period January 1997 to May 1998, which covered most of the complaints.

A spokesman said last night: "Although the bulk of this investigation has been completed, inquiries will continue in some aspects."

A separate police team, based at Hammersmith, west London, was set up to investigate further claims relating to alleged incidents from the last nine months and earlier complaints dating back to November 1992. These may result in files on more prison officers being sent to the CPS.

Several of the prisoners who have made allegations claim to have since been subjected to intimidation designed to get them to withdraw their complaints.

The Prison Service apologised to one prisoner - who alleges he was severely beaten in the segregation unit at Wormwood Scrubs - after staff at his new prison, Long Lartin in Worcestershire, took papers from his cell which detailed his allegations.

The Prison Service described it as "an unfortunate error on the part of the searching officers".

Last December, a prisoner who was facing charges of escaping from a prison bus in 1996, told Woolwich Crown Court in London that he had escaped in order to avoid a beating on arrival at Wormwood Scrubs.

Decaying prison, page 4