Source · IMB Annual Report

Thameside

AI-generated report summary HMP Thameside, a Category B/C prison, saw its population close to its operational capacity of 1,232. While the regime slowly normalized after Covid restrictions, challenges persisted, including a rise in prisoner-on-prisoner assaults (273 total) despite a decrease in staff assaults (168 total). The Board identified significant concerns around the inhumane delays for mental health transfers (average 39 days), inadequate property handling (complaints up 60%), and the unreliability of the cell bell system. Staff shortages, particularly impacting purposeful activity and resettlement services, were partially mitigated by recruitment efforts, though a large cohort of inexperienced staff remains.

Year: 2022 Published: 24 Nov 2022 Type: Prison · Cat B/C Population: 1,300 Recommendations: 11 Key concerns Positive findings

Original IMB report page ↗ Ministerial response · 31 Jan 2023 ↗

Safety statistics

Incidents during reporting year

Indicator	This year	Previous
Deaths in custody	0	—
Self-harm incidents	501	570
Prisoner assaults	273	180
Assaults on staff	168	234
Drug finds	233	243

Positive findings

AI-generated summary

The Board welcomes the prison's focus on initiatives like UoF training, ACCT documentation, and CSIPs, noting continued effective management and increased openness. Positive developments include improved COMP2 and overall complaint systems, with higher timeliness and quality of responses. The introduction of BWVC evidence in adjudications, prompt accommodation repairs, and an upgraded CMS system are also noted. The PIAC is now running more efficiently, and a new incentives scheme is welcomed. The IMB commends staff professionalism in the CSU and generally positive staff-prisoner relations.

Key concerns

12 items

Safety Prisoner on prisoner assaults have increased this year.

Substance Misuse The Board has been unable to obtain reliable MDT data from the prison on the extent and nature of drug use, which is a major contributory factor to prison violence.

Safety Repeated The Board is concerned by the reliability of the emergency cell bell answering system and how many calls go unanswered.

Complaints/Property Repeated Complaints about missing property have risen by 60% this year. The Board sees frequent evidence of lack of care and respect for prisoner property. This causes understandable prisoner frustration and needs urgently addressing.

Healthcare Repeated Concerns raised by the Board in the previous reporting year – medication issues, complaints handling – have continued this year and were also highlighted in the HMIP inspection report.

Mental Health Repeated The Board once again deplores the length of time mentally ill patients must wait for outside transfer to an appropriate secure mental health hospital. This is not humane.

Regime/Time Out of Cell Concerns regarding the limited access to gym for prisoners due to the continued cross deployment of staff.

Staffing Lack of staffing in the other agencies contracted to provide resettlement services has impacted on the services they can offer.

Resettlement/Release This cohort did not feel their needs were being met in relation to education, training, employment, debt, finance and housing.

Resettlement/Release Little or no support for remand prisoners has been available over the reporting year due to the reunification of the probation service.

Staffing The key worker scheme remains hard to quantify... random sampling of entries by the IMB continues to depict a very varied picture: while a few sessions show meaningful conversations between the prisoner and his key worker, other sessions are clearly just a ‘cut and paste’ version of the previous session.

Equality/Diversity Black prisoners consistently appear disproportionately more likely than White prisoners to be on the basic incentives scheme level, to be housed in the CSU and to make complaints, and less likely to be on the enhanced incentives scheme level. The Board would welcome more analysis to understand the drivers for this disproportionality in outcomes, and what revised approaches could be adopted.

Recommendations

11 items · 4 repeated

Recommendation 1

Addressee: Ministry of Justice

Liaise with NHS England to provide sufficient bed capacity in secure mental health hospitals, in order to avoid the need for prisons to hold mentally ill prisoners longer than the recommended NHS 14-day guideline, a practice which is wholly inhumane.

Repeated Source text verified

Recorded status:

Topic: Mental Health

Recommendation 2

Addressee: Ministry of Justice

Provide sufficient resourcing for the probation service to ensure adequate support to both sentenced and remand prisoners before and after their release.

Source text verified

Recorded status:

Topic: Resettlement

Recommendation 3

Addressee: Ministry of Justice

Work with other government departments to provide sufficient resources so that prisoners have adequate resettlement support and guidance on release such as housing and employment which is known to reduce recidivism.

Source text verified

Recorded status:

Topic: Resettlement

Recommendation 4

Addressee: HMPPS

For many years IMBs have raised the continuing problems associated with the transfer of prisoner property. This is due to inefficient processing systems and inadequate and insufficient storage in transfer vehicles across the prison estate. Apart from the distress and frustration this causes prisoners, these losses also lead to expensive but avoidable compensation claims. A national solution is urgently needed to tackle this problem.

Repeated Source text verified

Recorded status:

Topic: Property

Recommendation 5

Addressee: HMPPS

There is a lack of available places within the prison estate to enable reception prisons such as Thameside to transfer category D and prisoners on longer sentences to establishments where their needs will be met more appropriately.

Source text verified

Recorded status:

Topic: Accommodation

Recommendation 6

Addressee: HMPPS

Better management of the contracts of outside agencies including healthcare, education, housing, resettlement and probation is needed to address the shortcomings in the delivery of these services.

Source text verified

Recorded status:

Topic: Contract Management