West Yorkshire prison vape fires spark call for more prosecutions
The report to the authority's community safety committee on Friday said the fire service wanted more culprits to be prosecuted. It said: "We have seen a steady rise in cell fires, the vast majority of which have been started using vape pens - either by manipulating the heating element or the charging cables."We found that offenders face adjudication by the governor, which could result in up to 30 additional days added to their sentence."In severe cases, they could face criminal charges if the fire endangered staff or other prisoners."For a case to be considered by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the damage must exceed a threshold of £2,000."However, due to inaccurate costings, this threshold was rarely met."
'Powerful deterrent'
The fire service's Leeds District Commander Lee Miller told the meeting: "Prisoners being prisoners, they are inventive. They'll find new ways to set fires."Councillors were told prison liaison officers had introduced an incident reporting form that "captures accurate damage assessments, assigns costs and includes questions that police would typically ask the perpetrator".It said: "With the new incident reporting form, we hope to see more cases referred to and approved by the CPS."There have been instances in the UK where up to two years were added to a sentence. "If such a case occurred in one of our Leeds District sites, it could serve as a powerful deterrent."
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