Estate/Conditions
Repeated
The lack of recovery from the protracted threat of closure and consequential uncertainties and lack of investment, impacting prisoner experience and staff morale, and hindering essential upgrades to infrastructure and facilities.
Source wording under review
Staffing
A lack of management stability and a fully functioning senior leadership team (SLT) throughout most of the reporting year, making it almost impossible to maintain consistent focus and direction on prisoner wellbeing and rehabilitation.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
11 Of particular concern to the Board this year has been the very slow recovery towards normal regime since Covid restrictions were removed. Positively, education class sizes returned to the classroom capacity of eight as soon as it was permitted. However, industry numbers have been held back by staffing vacancies, sickness and a lack of working machinery. It is only very recently that increased wing staff numbers have begun to permit a reduction of extensive lockup times for prisoners to anywhere near the pre-Covid levels. Key working, which provides vital support to prisoners, has at best only restarted in a minimal way for a few prisoners. Important on-wing association activities at weekends, such as pool or table tennis, have only recently begun to re-emerge and at the end of the reporting year were still not available on all wings.
Safety
We find that although the prison is generally a safe place in absolute terms, it is significantly less safe than last year, a view generally supported by the many prisoners we have spoken to throughout the year. We are being told of more incidents of prisoner-on-prisoner bullying, prisoners with offences of a sexual nature feeling unsafe and older prisoners being threatened.
Safety
Repeated
3 A concern throughout this and the previous reporting years has been the poor quality and obsolescent body-worn video cameras (BWVCs) that remain in use within Dartmoor. There have been significant periods when no cameras were available, because of obsolescent equipment failures. Incidents then went unrecorded, removing important safeguards for both prisoners and staff.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Prisoners have been treated neither fairly nor humanely due to excessively long lockup times and reduced access to activities, education, family communications, showers, and association across the year.
Healthcare
Inadequate healthcare provision for a significant proportion of older, chronically sick prisoners with acute and special needs, compounded by an unsuitable physical environment (e.g., no wheelchair access) and a healthcare contract that does not cover 24-hour care.
Source wording under review
Resettlement/Release
The Board is of the opinion that it would be better if prisoners due for release were transferred in adequate time to a resettlement prison where they can be given the full resources and advice that HMP Dartmoor is unable to provide, primarily because it is not funded adequately to provide the courses and support necessary to ensure successful resettlement. The alternative would be to redesignate Dartmoor and fully resource it as a training and resettlement prison.
Staffing
Repeated
1 Staffing - Despite the withdrawal of the closure notice, HMP Dartmoor’s location continues to affect staff recruitment and retention, both officer support grades (OSG) and non-operational. We are also being told by management that recruitment in non-operational grades has become problematic. Over the course of the reporting year the Board learnt of difficulties in filling vacancies in the kitchens, industries and health care. This impacts on prisoner welfare as there is reduced prisoner/staff contact.
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
Investment - The Board’s monitoring continues to show that a lack of investment in buildings, staff and equipment is resulting in a shortage of work placements for prisoners and increasing their time in cells and on the wing. This has not changed, even as the regime has been relaxed. Recent examples here include the lack of a functioning laundry and essential machines in the carpentry workshop being out of service, both of which have reduced prisoner employment opportunities.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
Very few key work sessions have been carried out during the reporting year, despite lockdown restrictions being relaxed, removing an important lifeline for prisoner support and rehabilitation.
Equality/Diversity
Repeated
2 The Board reported last year that: ‘monitoring indicates that prison management and staff generally place a high priority on fair treatment and equal access to services for all prisoners. However, this generally high personal commitment from management and officers is not well supported or overseen by management processes’. We are pleased to note that since then the Governor has identified diversity and inclusion as one of his priority areas to drive improvements. 5.4.3 The Board is disappointed that, despite clear commitment by the leadership team to this area and considerable attention from the Governor, necessary changes have not this year gained traction or begun to be embedded throughout the organisation. Prisoner-led forums have not been fully re-established since Covid restrictions ended, and prisoners tell us that the discrimination incident reporting form (DIRF) process lacks prisoner confidence and is ineffective.
Equality/Diversity
A lack of systemic understanding or planning for the needs of disabled and older prisoners, leading to reactive support and negative impacts on the welfare of all prisoners due to unplanned bed watches.
Source wording under review
Healthcare
Dental provision and waiting times continue to be a challenge with waiting times of up to three years. Dental provision for an additional 33 sessions has been approved, with eight to 10 so far implemented. While accepting that this reflects the situation in the community, nonetheless it remains a concern.