Recommendation 1
The Board invites the Minister to ensure adequate funding for the resettlement role currently undertaken by HMP The Verne.
Source · IMB Annual Report
The Verne
AI-generated report summary HMP The Verne maintains a generally safe and respectful environment, successfully implementing a new self-harm monitoring system and demonstrating strong staff-prisoner relationships. The Board commends the high-quality physical healthcare provision, including excellent vaccination rates, and welcomes the establishment of a new 16-room social care unit aimed at addressing the long-standing concern for elderly and frail prisoners. However, significant challenges persist, particularly in resettlement provision, severe understaffing in the Offender Management Unit leading to backlogs, and long waiting times for mental health services and external healthcare appointments due to staff shortages.
Year: 2023
Published: 6 Feb 2024
Type: Prison · Cat C adult training
Population: 606
Recommendations: 3
Key concerns
Positive findings
Safety statistics
| Indicator | This year | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths in custody | 5 | — |
| Self-harm incidents | 58 | — |
| ACCT cases opened | 109 | 53 |
| Prisoner assaults | 16 | — |
| Assaults on staff | 6 | — |
| Use of force | 15 | 11 |
| Drug finds | 13 | — |
Positive findings
AI-generated summaryHMP The Verne maintains a generally safe environment with rare instances of violence and a prevailing ethos of mutual respect between staff and prisoners. The Board commends the high-quality physical healthcare provision, including exemplary vaccination uptakes and the successful establishment of a new 16-room social care unit, which is a significant improvement addressing a long-standing concern for frail and elderly prisoners. Staff-prisoner relationships, chaplaincy work, and the handling of complaints are also noted as positive aspects.
Key concerns
The lack of 24-hour dedicated social care provision for frail, elderly prisoners who will need regular personal care.
The Ministry of Justice has still not made any funding available, even though the number released from the Verne annually is now nearly a quarter of the prison population (128/600).
Significant understaffing in the Offender Management Unit (OMU), leading to substantial backlogs in OASys assessments and reviews, causing anxiety and potential sentence extensions for prisoners.
Source wording under review
Around one third of planned appointments are cancelled due to lack of prison staff, lack of wheelchair transport or lack of staff trained in wheelchair use.
A psychologist visits for four days each week and there is a waiting list of about 10 weeks. A psychiatrist visits one day each week and this waiting list is about 15 weeks.
The Board regrets that there is currently no plan to establish a ‘community hospital’ at The Verne, which has been discussed in earlier years and would reduce the need for external hospital visits and offer considerable savings in staff time.
The Verne was unsuccessful in an application for funding to run the Horizon programme. The Board views this as very unfortunate, as 128 prisoners (nearly one quarter of the prison population) were released from The Verne during the year – the great majority of these had not completed a programme.
Recommendations
Recommendation 2
The Board urges HMPPS to recognise the efforts made by the senior management team to provide a resettlement service despite the absence of dedicated funding.
Recommendation 3
The Board encourages the Governor to continue the search for further employment opportunities for Verne prisoners.
Applications to the IMB
| Category | Current | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation, including laundry, clothing, ablutions | 5 | 7 |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogues | 5 | 5 |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives scheme, sanctions | 9 | 3 |
| Equality | 4 | 2 |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 9 | 3 |
| Food and kitchens | 7 | 0 |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 12 | 7 |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection, restrictions | 3 | 9 |
| Miscellaneous | 17 | 8 |
| Property during transfer or in another facility | 7 | 8 |
| Property within the establishment | 7 | 3 |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, time out of cell | 14 | 3 |
| Sentence management, including HDC, ROTL, parole, release dates, re-categorisation | 10 | 5 |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 7 | 2 |
| Transfers | 5 | 2 |
Related inspections & investigations
Safety 4
· Respect 3
· Activity 2
· Release 2
Reginald Northrop · Natural causes
Philip Eldridge · Natural causes
George Haldenby · Natural causes
Other reports for The Verne
Population 645
· Self-harm 222
· Concerns
Population 605
· Self-harm 140
· Concerns
Population 599
· Self-harm 85
· Concerns
Population 557
· Self-harm 54
· Concerns
Population 551
· Self-harm 73
· Concerns