Safety
Repeated
Funding cuts jeopardising safety progress, particularly for interventions previously shown to be effective.
Source wording under review
Safety
Repeated
Inconsistent and inadequate use of Body Worn Video Cameras (BWVCs) by staff, hindering evidence collection and deterrence.
Source wording under review
Complaints/Property
The efficacy of the prison complaints system has been subject to criticism by the Board over the course of the year. The speed and completeness of responses has been seriously inept at times.
Safety
Repeated
Following a prisoner’s death in custody shortly after the prisoner’s arrival, the Board remains of the view that the initial admission processes require reform. There is a review of processes in train, but this is not a new issue, and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) among others has highlighted it.
Estate/Conditions
Some renovation work continued during the pandemic, with new windows installed, redecoration on A and C wings, and refurbishment of the visits and reception areas, and of several shower blocks and serveries. However, many of the prison’s facilities remain in poor condition, and it remains a source of shame that at the end of May 2021,118 prisoners were sharing cells designed for one person only. The antiquated nature of the infrastructure meant that at a point in November 2020 there was either no heating on a wing, or it was heated to an unhealthily high temperature.
Food/Catering
Chronic issues with the quality, quantity, and nutritional value of food, compounded by broken kitchen equipment and difficulties in providing specialist diets.
Source wording under review
Staffing
The breakdown of the key worker scheme due to pandemic staffing pressures, impacting continuous support for prisoners.
Source wording under review
Mental Health
However, it is of great concern to the Board that the learning disability nurse has left, and the departure of the head of psychology and her deputy has left the prison with no psychology service. This is a huge gap in provision for a very vulnerable group and has led to a very long waiting list for therapeutic interventions.
Substance Misuse
The Board notes that testing of prisoners, which was suspended at the end of February 2020, has still not resumed. As at the end of May 2021, the prison was not in any hurry to reinstate it, citing staffing issues and a wish to direct limited resources towards restarting the daily regime.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Their pandemic has been spent in a mainly adult Victorian prison with little time out of cell, limited social contact with others, little exercise, little or no contact with family, legal uncertainties, often appalling food and little or no meaningful activity or purpose, let alone activity appropriate to their age and maturity.