Recommendation 1
Increase funding and prioritise appropriate, high-quality and employer-driven vocational activity, training and qualifications to help reduce reoffending.
Source · IMB Annual Report
Stoke Heath
AI-generated report summary HMP/YOI Stoke Heath maintained a safe and positive environment during the reporting year ending March 2022, despite ongoing Covid challenges. Key positives included improved in-cell telephony, good routine GP access, and declining use of force. However, significant concerns persist regarding the slow restoration of the key worker scheme, inadequate vocational training and resettlement support, and persistent delays in dental care and access to mental health beds.
Year: 2022
Published: 8 Nov 2022
Type: Prison · Cat C, YOI
Population: 782
Recommendations: 6
Key concerns
Positive findings
Safety statistics
| Indicator | This year | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths in custody | 2 | — |
| Self-harm incidents | 181 | — |
| ACCT cases opened | 133 | — |
| Prisoner assaults | 48 | — |
| Assaults on staff | 8 | — |
| Use of force | 192 | — |
Positive findings
AI-generated summaryStoke Heath maintained a safe, positive environment, fostering positive staff-prisoner relationships and helping prisoners feel safe. The introduction of in-cell telephony significantly improved the lived experience, while kitchen staff were commended for their accommodating approach and food quality. Self-harm incidents remained relatively low, and use of force declined year-on-year. Healthcare services showed excellent recovery and restoration with reduced GP waiting times and increased on-site diagnostics. The Board welcomed the return to classroom learning and the Governor's proactive engagement with employers for resettlement, alongside the successful Health and Wellbeing Champions (HAWCs) initiative.
Key concerns
Funding for appropriate, high-quality, and employer-driven vocational activity, training, and qualifications remains inadequate, limiting rehabilitation and resettlement opportunities.
Source wording under review
Basic maths and English qualifications are not achieved earlier in prisoners’ sentences, limiting focus on vocational training at resettlement prisons.
There are still too many uncompleted offender assessment system (OASys) assessments that should not be the responsibility of Stoke Heath. OASys is a risk and needs assessment which identifies why a prisoner offends. This assessment should be made early in a prisoner’s sentence, as it is used to develop an individual sentence plan detailing what provision and support he will need to reduce his risk of reoffending. In March, the backlog of uncompleted OASys assessments at Stoke Heath was 52, down from 72 in January. The backlog is compounded by staff training, leave and Covid. The prison continues to report and contact establishments that are sending prisoners to Stoke Heath without completed OASys assessments. Early assessment of prisoners would help potential rehabilitation and allow POMs more time to have valuable contact with prisoners. This was an issue reported by the Board last year and continues to be unresolved.
The full key worker scheme has not been restored to the necessary standard, resulting in insufficient contact and quality support for prisoners.
Source wording under review
The ageing hot water and heating system continues to be very temperamental and problematic. It is not due to be replaced until spring 2023. However, the Board has been impressed by the proactive response of the maintenance contractor's managers. They appear committed to maintaining a safe, decent environment on the wings this winter and to ensuring a smooth transition to the new system.
Unacceptable delays persist for prisoners needing dental treatment, with routine appointments averaging 36 days.
Source wording under review
In the West Midlands, there are two prison in-patient units (Birmingham and Dovegate) operating a ‘regional rota’ and an over-50s in-patient unit for prisoners convicted of sexual offences at Stafford. However, access to these beds, due to insufficient spaces and reduction of available beds across the area, is exceptionally difficult and this often compromises the prisoners’ mental or physical health. A source of frustration is that the healthcare building at Stoke Heath has a decommissioned in-patient facility and if this was refurbished and reinstated it would be of substantial benefit as a regional resource.
The Trust providing secondary mental healthcare has been unable to replace the occupational therapist.
Recruitment and retention at Stoke Heath continue to be a challenge, mainly due to the location of the prison and the constraints on NHS pay when compared to the private sector.
A change of regional service providers from St Giles to NACRO has resulted in particularly poor outcomes. Previously, 95% of prisoners were found accommodation on release and had access to a bank account, but in April 2022 only 75% of prisoners had accommodation on release. The poor performance is partly because NACRO do not have appropriate staff in place, but also because they act on referrals from community offender managers (COMs) which are often inadequate or incomplete. The NACRO contract will only find accommodation for prisoners in the West Midlands. However,30% of prisoners at Stoke Heath come from other areas.
No specialised treatment or rehabilitation programme is available for prisoners serving imprisonment for public protection sentences and life sentences on their dedicated wing.
Prisoners in the Clive unit experience a lack of contact with prison staff and access to support with resettlement, such as employment advisers or guidance on banking and future accommodation.
One assault on a prisoner in early February has led to life-changing injuries.
Recommendations
Recommendation 2
Basic maths and English qualifications should be achieved earlier in prisoners’ sentences to allow more focus on vocational training and qualifications at resettlement prisons such as Stoke Heath.
Recommendation 3
Prisoners coming to Stoke Heath should be accompanied by a completed offender assessment (OASys) which includes sentence plan objectives assessing the risk of harm, risk of reoffending and educational needs.
Recommendation 4
The prison should continue to furnish prisoners with the skills that are currently in demand in the workplace. This should include working closer with industry to encourage training within the prison and meaningful employment upon release.
Recommendation 5
A full keyworker scheme should be restored to give the prisoners the best chance of success.
Recommendation 6
The prison should continue to prioritise the replacement of the heating and hot water system, to start in early 2023.
Applications to the IMB
| Category | Current | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation, including laundry, clothing, ablutions | 7 | 2 |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 2 | 0 |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives schemes, sanctions | 10 | 1 |
| Equality | 11 | 17 |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 20 | 23 |
| Food and kitchens | 5 | 4 |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 54 | 46 |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 7 | 10 |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 33 | 33 |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 36 | 24 |
| Property within this establishment | 25 | 34 |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 11 | 2 |
| Sentence management, including HDC, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 57 | 46 |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 49 | 50 |
| Transfers | 31 | 20 |
Related inspections & investigations
Safety 4
· Respect 3
· Activity 1
· Release 2
Simon Follos · Self-inflicted
David Venables · Natural causes
Darren Docherty · Self-inflicted
Darren Docherty · State Custody related deaths | Suicide (from 2015)
Jerome Jones · State Custody related deaths
Derrick Rose-Fowler · State Custody related deaths
Other reports for Stoke Heath
· Self-harm 486
· Concerns
Population 782
· Self-harm 400
· Concerns
Population 750
· Self-harm 246
· Concerns
Population 676
· Concerns
Population 700
· Self-harm 328
· Concerns