Wayland

The IMB at Wayland can see no effective alternative to a request to the Minister to order a complete review of the initial and development training of prison officers.

The Board considers that there might be thought given by the Minister to a consideration of post-release drug treatment perhaps through a new sentence licence requirement, given the links now, operationally, through the combined Prison and Probation Service.

The Board recommends to the Prison Service that it immediately carries out a clear-eyed needs analysis of the new HMIP report’s recommendations to identify which of them will need additional resources provided to Wayland’s Governor for their delivery and then to commit to providing those resources.

The Board recommends to the Prison Service that the review of staff profiling for which we have called in previous reports, and for which we are now calling again, must take into account the context we have just described, at least until the balance of experience is restored.

The Board recommends that the Prison Service provides the finance and resources for a comprehensive overhaul of the new build heating systems to be put in place before the next cold season.

The Board recommends to the Prison Service that the new care and separation unit, built, so we are informed, at considerable cost, can at least be staffed to properly address the ‘care’ element as well as that of ‘separation’ in the management of prisoners held there when it does, finally, open.

The Board recommends that prison officer training is reviewed to include deeper and more extensive training on key work and staff/prisoner relationships.

The Board believes that the management of the incentives scheme should be regarded as an absolute requirement at establishment level and therefore properly supported and resourced by the Prison Service.

The Board recommends to the Prison Service that it reviews its decision not to resource a modern IT system to support property management and that it seeks appropriate IT solutions without further delay.

The Board believes that the Prison Service needs to shoulder its responsibilities to work with other government departments to provide the accommodation to allow the Governor and her staff to do the job expected of them.

The Board recommends to the Governor that the failure to manage the induction process properly is a situation which needs serious commitment to change.

The Board suggests that the separated nature of the accommodation units across the site could be used to manage the population through smaller, and more focused, groups and create a more cooperative population through encouragement and attention rather than simply punishment.

The Board draws the prison’s attention to the finding that 40% of prisoners were still not getting a reliable weekly bedding exchange, for the third year in a row, and hopes again that effective measures will be put in place, this time, to achieve a reliable bedding change process as a matter of routine for all prisoners.

It has been reported to the Board that all induction orderlies, Insiders, library orderlies and mobile maintenance orderlies are white. The equalities lead accepts that this could be discriminatory and has agreed to monitor the situation closely. The Board fully understands that security-sensitive prisoner employment tasks as outlined cannot merely be filled by crude ‘quotas’ but it would like to be convinced that decisions are not made on other than strict security or behavioural grounds. The Board is also unsure whether the suggestion by some staff that black, Asian and minority ethnic prisoners are less likely to want to commit to long-term employment than their white counterparts is factually correct and would like to see this suggestion tested more thoroughly. The Board recommends that this area of potential discrimination is reviewed by the Governor and will continue to review progress on this issue.

The Board views that prisoners should be told when either a negative or a positive entry has been made as a way of challenging poor behaviour openly, confirming good behaviour, and helping to make the incentives process transparent.

The Board suggests wing management ensure that cell clearances are properly carried out in future.

The Board suggests there may be a need to review how the medication periods are managed and supervised, especially considering instances of violence in the drug dependency medications queue and policy of prescription reduction.

The Board recommends that the concept of a buddy system within the prison for those prisoners who may be mobility-compromised or in need of a degree of personal care is researched and supported.

The Board recommends to the Governor that the cooperation/collaboration between the operational and the education contractor sides could be significantly improved in order to make better use of an expensive prisoner rehabilitation resource.

The Board recommends that open access to the library is recommenced as soon as possible so that prisoners’ library needs can be more fully met, their reading improved, and their individual inner lives properly nurtured.

The Ofsted inspection, which occurred as part of the HMIP inspection at the end of this reporting year, supports the Board’s conclusions. Ofsted’s assessment of the education, skills, and work provision at Wayland was as follows:
• Overall effectiveness – inadequate
• Quality of education – inadequate
• Behaviour and attitudes – inadequate
• Personal development – inadequate
• Leadership and management – inadequate
The Board will attempt to monitor the steps which it hopes will be taken by the contractor (PeoplePlus), the Prison Service, and the Governor, who, we understand, is in charge of the contract, to reverse these unacceptable judgements in the coming year.

The Board recommends that the operational objections to allowing cross-unit mentoring by Shannon Trust volunteers be reviewed to see how this valuable addition to the prison’s rehabilitative function and its stated priority to ‘create careers’ for prisoners can be allowed.

The Board recommends to the Governor that greater training effort is made to upskill staff who are in daily contact with prisoners so that they are competent and confident to respond to prisoners who are seeking their help and, also, to proactively interact with prisoners to create the atmosphere and relationships where such interactions can take place.

The Board recommends to the Governor that steps are taken to consider how the charity-funded Storybook Dads initiative could be restarted in full with library access which was a valuable, and valued, feature of library activity before the pandemic.

The visits hall is on the first floor. There is no lift to that level and only a chairlift which is not suitable for all disabilities nor, crucially, is it consistently working. Each time it has been repaired, incorrect operation by staff (there are no easy to comprehend operating instructions for staff unfamiliar with its management) has led to its rapid failure. These issues have been raised numerous times with prison management without success. There is a suggestion that a personnel lift will be installed in a new ‘lift tower’ but not for two years. This problem requires an operational and reliable answer now (see section 7.4).