Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
1 Background to the report The Board has been able to return to on-site monitoring for much of the period covered by this report. The Board has continued to receive applications from prisoners. Many of these relate to prisoners’ personal property being lost on arrival or when being transferred between wings. The Board is concerned that the prison is slow to respond to these issues, which increases the anxiety of the prisoner involved.
Complaints/Property
Whilst there are few complaints about unfair treatment, the prison is frequently too slow to investigate and respond to specific allegations and advise the prisoner of the outcome.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Repeated
There are insufficient work and education places available for the prisoner population, leading to many placements being part-time or low-value wing worker roles, and some workshops remaining closed.
Source wording under review
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
Persistent delays in preparing OASys sentence plans and programme delivery are hampering prisoners’ progression and opportunities for timely transfers, with waits of five months or more for OASys reports.
Source wording under review
Safety
Custodial managers frequently fail to supply timely support plans for prisoners identified as needing safer custody support, and reports for multi-agency safeguarding meetings are not always available on time, impacting informed decision-making.
Source wording under review
Safety
The use of weapons has increased, and searches of men leaving residential areas and workplaces are failing to detect weapons.
Safety
There are delays in control and restraint staff training, a shortage of instructors, and inconsistent use of Body Worn Video Cameras by staff during prisoner moves.
Source wording under review
Equality/Diversity
Repeated
There is a disproportionate use of PAVA against Black, Asian, and minority ethnic prisoners.
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
Problems with C wing showers persist despite a third refurbishment during the reporting year, indicating poor standards of work and inadequate contract monitoring.
Healthcare
Healthcare night cover ceased as of June 2021. The Board is not confident that the out of hours GP service will carry out visits to the prison over the night period, and therefore the risk to prisoners is increased.
Mental Health
Difficulty in recruiting a registered nurse with specialist training in mental health is a potential risk to mental health support.
Other
The production of this report has put considerable strain on the reduced Board resources available (four full members compared to seven last year). This has not been helped by the lack of administrative support provided by the prison to the Board, including supply of data for this report. The prison does not comply with the Memorandum of Understanding in place between HMPPS and the IMBs and this adversely affects the efforts of Board members.
Equality/Diversity
There is a significant imbalance in the number of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) prisoners on the enhanced incentives scheme level, with BAME prisoners making up only 39% of the enhanced level despite being 47.5% of the population.