Jonathan Thornton

Information sharing between the CFT and Prison Healthcare. During the course of the inquest, I heard that there had been various barriers to information sharing between the community forensic team and prison healthcare.  There  was  no  formal  system  in  place  for  the  handover  of information between these teams at the time of Jonathan’s death or at the conclusion of the inquest. Prison Healthcare staff were often unavailable or uncontactable for handover meetings. The handover of information between CFT and Prison Healthcare is vital for the risk assessment and management of prisoners who are known to the CFT (often some of the most complex and high-risk prisoners).

I am concerned that the lack of formal information sharing between the two departments gives rise to a risk of future death. Information sharing between Prison Healthcare and Operational Prison Staff. This case illustrated  a  lack  of  communication  and  information  sharing between Prison Healthcare and the Operational Prison Staff which was concerning to me.

I heard evidence that Prison Healthcare had in place a quasi ‘watch and wait’ plan for monitoring a potentially high-risk inmate. Not only was this plan not communicated to all of the healthcare team, but it   relied upon reporting of deterioration in behaviours from operational prison staff who were completely unaware that (i) they were being tasked with this role; and (ii) what to look for. Furthermore, the operational prison staff told me that having a broad understanding (within the confines of confidentiality) of a prisoner’s mental health risks and triggers would improve the safety and security of the prison for the officers and prisoners. It would enable them to properly assess and manage risk, but that there was no effective mechanism in place by which to achieve this. I am concerned that the lack of formal information sharing between the two departments gives rise to a risk of future death.   Categorisation and visibility of alerts on NOMIS/DPS I heard that NOMIS/DPS has preset categorisation of alerts.

The categories are limited and broad. This means that ‘violent’ prisoners – regardless of the particulars of that violence – will all be categorised together. This case illustrated quite clearly that there are certain categories of offender who require better particularisation of their risk. In this case, that was those prisoners with a history of assaulting fellow inmates. I was told that unless a prisoner  has  assaulted  a  cellmate,  which  would  be  subject  to  its  own assessment, the operational prison staff would not necessarily know whether their violent behaviour was aimed at prison officers, other prisoners or simply a genera violent behaviour linked to their offending. Clearly, each of these categories  gives  rise  to  a  particular  risk  within  a  prison  setting.         

I  am concerned that if more detailed categorisation and/or information is not provided to the operational prison staff within NOMIS/DPS alerts, with clear visibility, this gives rise to a risk of future death. I understand that this is controlled nationally.   Moreover,  I  understand  that  the  Healthcare  Staff  are  unable  to  view NOMIS/DPS alerts. This gives rise to the same risk