Safety
Prisoners often report feeling unsafe, particularly in their early days in Aylesbury. Some have heard negative reports about Aylesbury or have ‘non-associates’ (other prisoners they have to avoid for safety reasons, including gang affiliations or previous incidents) at Aylesbury.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Lack of clarity about next steps after induction causes anxiety.
Substance Misuse
There was an increase in drugs and trading of prescription medicines. This led to some prisoners being in debt and threatened.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
But the prison did not develop a more open and fair regime quickly enough, which would support strong staff-prisoner relationships. The older, category C population, needed a new culture to be embedded fast. Staff took time to adapt their approach to prisoners.
Resettlement/Release
Many prisoners in Aylesbury are a long way from their families. Many of these prisoners have young children or relatives who are unwell. We have had many complaints about this throughout the year.
Healthcare
For three months health services were patchy and sometimes chaotic.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
There is not enough out-of-cell activity, and much of the activity is of poor quality and undemanding. This means that prisoners are not gaining practical, social or intellectual skills to aid their progression and resettlement.
Staffing
The Offender Management Unit (OMU) ran with only 50% of prison offender managers against plan during much of the year. OMU staff were overstretched.
Resettlement/Release
Aylesbury is not a resettlement prison. It is not staffed or resourced to support prisoners leaving custody. Despite this, 65 prisoners were released from Aylesbury in this period. This is unacceptable.
Staffing
Throughout the year the shortage of officers in all bands impacted negatively on the regime in the prison and as a consequence on the lives of all the prisoners.
Other
The preparation for the prison to change from a youth offenders institution (YOI) to a category C prison was seriously inadequate.