Foston Hall

Response
New fortnightly clinical case review meeting, target covering the Midlands region, to reduce transfer times, assessing all prisoners that have exceeded 28-day time frame. The transfer to hospital target timescale has been missed on 10 occasions out of 36 this year.

Response
April 2022 regime expanded. Level transfer campaigns to fill vacancies. Prison officer entry-level training mentors appointed to help with retention, and standards coaching team offering staff support.

Response
Redecoration has improved the appearance of some cells. The limitations of the accommodation remain the same. A bid to replace the showers has been successful. A bid has been submitted for additional space for healthcare. Mental health accommodation has improved since the team moved back into their offices. But overall, there is insufficient space for the clinical work on a one-to-one or groupwork basis, and health promotion activities have been held back, partly due to lack of space. Renovation has been completed. New physical education (PE) slot on Mondays and plans to improve exercise yard. Education outreach provided to CSU prisoners. Despite improvements from refurbishment, the area is still cramped and a poor environment. A new build remains the longer-term solution.

Response
Reduction in self-harm strategy published. Case coordinator support sessions. New CSIP improvement processes. Incentives policy reviewed. Weekly PE for assessment for care in custody teamwork (ACCT) prisoners. Focus on training staff to use body worn cameras. Self-harm levels remain high (the highest in the women’s estate). Use of force has seen a decrease, and some improvement in use of body worn cameras has been seen. Assaults on staff have come down during the period, but prisoner-on-prisoner assaults have gone up.

Response
Reduction in self-harm strategy published. Case coordinator support sessions. New CSIP improvement processes. Incentives policy reviewed. Weekly PE for assessment for care in custody teamwork (ACCT) prisoners. Focus on training staff to use body worn cameras. Self-harm levels remain high (the highest in the women’s estate). Use of force has seen a decrease, and some improvement in use of body worn cameras has been seen. Assaults on staff have come down during the period, but prisoner-on-prisoner assaults have gone up.

Response
April 2022 regime expanded. Level transfer campaigns to fill vacancies. Prison officer entry-level training mentors appointed to help with retention, and standards coaching team offering staff support. Despite considerable efforts to improve the staffing situation, it has deteriorated during the year, with increasing number of regime restrictions.

Response
Process is being reviewed. Access to stored property is completed on a Saturday, and parcels completed daily. New national property framework, and new women’s facility list. Prisoners continue to report problems in relation to property. In a recent survey conducted by IMB, 62% of prisoners who responded said they had problems accessing their property.

Response
Ministry of Justice estates team in regular contact with contractors to identify delays and how they can be resolved. Locally, issues are escalated to regional estates manager, and performance improvement process is available. Improvement in tackling backlog of repairs by on-site team (504 jobs reduced to 168). However, Amey team in the establishment has less than 50% staffing, and many repairs outstanding. Unacceptable delays in repairs involving Amey based outside the establishment.

Response
Work underway on equalities strategy. Programme of forums is established. Views of Black, Asian or minority ethnic prisoners expressed in two support groups remain critical. Support groups for prisoners suspended for some months and lack of follow-through on issues raised.

Response
Work underway on equalities strategy. Programme of forums is established. Views of Black, Asian or minority ethnic prisoners expressed in two support groups remain critical. Support groups for prisoners suspended for some months and lack of follow-through on issues raised.

Response
Healthcare team has worked persistently to fill vacant posts. Difficulties in recruiting agency staff have been recently resolved. Cover for nights by a trained nurse has been a concern, and a pharmacy technician was trained in life support to cover night duty. Over the year to date, 11 nights have been covered by a healthcare assistant, and, of these, six occurred due to last-minute cancellations by agency staff.

Response
There is a shortage of bail accommodation support scheme (BASS) housing for women in Derby and women not wanting to be released elsewhere away from families and significant others. In September 2022, two new BASS premises opened in Derby. The latest data shows approximately one fifth of prisoners are released without a settled address, although the lack of reliable data from probation areas means it has proved difficult to establish the extent. Data cleansing in partnership with probation has led to more reliable data from August onwards.