Source · IMB Annual Report
Parc
Year: 2022
Published: 29 Sep 2023
Type: Prison · Cat B, local, YOI
Recommendations: 5
Key concerns
Positive findings
This report for HMP Parc covers a period dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to significant regime restrictions and staff shortages. Despite these challenges, the Board found that staff maintained a safe environment for prisoners, with reductions in some violent incidents. However, healthcare, mental health support, and purposeful activity were severely impacted by limited resources and external agency support, and concerns persisted regarding drug entry and food quality.
Safety statistics
| Indicator | This year | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths in custody | 7 | — |
| Self-harm incidents | 1,285 | — |
| ACCT cases opened | 1,118 | 1,145 |
Positive findings
The Board commends management and staff for effectively maintaining a safe environment and ensuring no lives were lost to Covid during the pandemic, despite staff shortages and restricted regimes. Incidents at height and use of force incidents saw reductions. The reception process for prisoners was found to be positive. Progress was made in reducing GP waiting times to seven days and dental waiting times to seven weeks. Education and work provision received excellent ratings from Estyn, and the offender management team maintained high quality work despite staffing difficulties. The Board also noted thorough Good Order and Discipline reviews and effective equality and diversity initiatives.
Key concerns
Substance Misuse
Repeated
Despite prisoners being kept in their cells for up to 23 hours per day, and limited social visits, drugs continued to enter the prison.
Staffing
Staff shortages had a serious effect on prisoners, who complained of a lack of communication about curtailment of the regime.
Healthcare
Healthcare continued to face challenges, with continued staff shortages and limited support for those with mental health issues, due to a lack of support from community healthcare.
Mental Health
Waiting lists continued to be protracted, which caused anxiety amongst prisoners particularly in the area of mental health.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Regimes operating during the period severely restricted rehabilitation, with activities mostly wing based.
Healthcare
There continued to be a high level of failed appointments for healthcare, again indicating a need to examine the appointments system to establish where the process is failing.
Food/Catering
Complaints continued regarding food, raising questions over quality, quantity and choice. This raises several questions such as when the provision of food was last reviewed and whether a nutritionist is involved in the process. There is a need to review the catering provision at Parc.
Education/Purposeful Activity
The effectiveness of the library service as it currently operates should be examined to work towards restoring previous levels of uptake across the prison.
Equality/Diversity
The use of force figures for young adults (18–25) are consistently higher than the prison average, as are the figures for the black, Asian and minority ethnic population, suggesting some disproportionality. The Board are not aware of any steps the prison is taking to identify underlying causes for disproportionality.
Recommendations
| # | Recommendation | Addressee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Can you work with G4S encouraging them to increase the pay for prison staff in order to increase recruitment and retention rates? | Ministry of Justice | |
| 2 | Will the Prison Service work with the contractor to increase the capacity of offending behaviour programmes and interventions at Parc, including those for prisoners convicted of sexual offences, as recommended by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, so that prisoners can benefit from these without needing to transfer to another prison? | HMPPS | |
| 3 | There continued to be a high level of failed appointments for healthcare, again indicating a need to examine the appointments system to establish where the process is failing. | Governor / Director | |
| 4 | Complaints continued regarding food, raising questions over quality, quantity and choice. This raises several questions such as when the provision of food was last reviewed and whether a nutritionist is involved in the process. There is a need to review the catering provision at Parc. | Governor / Director | |
| 5 | The effectiveness of the library service as it currently operates should be examined to work towards restoring previous levels of uptake across the prison. | Governor / Director |
Applications to the IMB
| Category | Current | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation, including laundry, clothing, ablutions | 3 | 5 |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 2 | — |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives, sanctions | 6 | 4 |
| Equality | 7 | — |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 11 | — |
| Food and kitchens | 7 | — |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 12 | 3 |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 18 | 1 |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 15 | — |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 11 | 2 |
| Property within this establishment | 10 | 1 |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 12 | — |
| Sentence management, including HDC, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 3 | 1 |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 16 | 1 |
| Total number of applications | 130 | 9 |
| Transfers | 7 | — |
Other reports for Parc
Report details
- Establishment
- Parc
- Type
- Prison · Cat B, local, YOI
- Report year
- 2022
- Published
- 29 September 2023
- Responsible body
- Parc
- Recommendations
- 5
- MoJ rating (2024/25)
- 2 — Concern
Population
| Operational capacity | 1,599 |
| CNA (designed for) | 1,699 |
Service providers
Education
G4S
Healthcare
Justice Health
Library services
Greenwich Leisure Limited
Prison management
G4S Justice Services
Resettlement (accommodation)
Forward Trust
Resettlement (personal wellbeing and social inclusion)
St Giles Wise
Substance misuse support
Dyfodol
Visitors centre
Barnardo’s