Key concerns 21 items
Key concerns were extracted from the report text by an AI model.
Key concern 1
Substance Misuse · Repeated from a previous year
The high availability of illicit substances has driven debt, self-harm, bullying and violence despite the remedial work of prison staff
Key concern 2
Safety · Repeated from a previous year
Despite interceptions, there continued to be a significant level of drone activity.
Key concern 3
Staffing · Repeated from a previous year
There continued to be high numbers of inexperienced prison officers on the wings who lacked the skills to de-escalate challenging situations.
Key concern 4
Complaints/Property · Repeated from a previous year
Frequently prisoners felt frustrated that their complaint and/or the complaint process had failed to address the issue or issues they had raised
Key concern 5
Estate/Conditions · Repeated from a previous year
The poor condition of most cell windows enabled access for vermin and illicit items via drones
Key concern 6
Estate/Conditions
Cell doors on some wings enabled prisoners to barricade
Key concern 7
Estate/Conditions · Repeated from a previous year
Despite some redecoration, the cells and shower facilities on the older wings remain in a poor condition and require attention
Key concern 8
Estate/Conditions · Repeated from a previous year
There were ongoing issues with repairs and/or replacements of kitchen machinery, wing washing machines and tumble dryers
Key concern 9
Food/Catering
Food choice, quality and quantity was considered poor by many prisoners.
Key concern 10
Healthcare · Repeated from a previous year
There were long wait times for non-emergency dental appointments
Key concern 11
Mental Health · Repeated from a previous year
Despite the mental health team being fully staffed by the end of the reporting year, they had no capacity to provide additional mental health interventions.
Key concern 12
Education/Purposeful Activity · Repeated from a previous year
There were ongoing challenges to improve prisoner engagement in education and employment
Key concern 13
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Approximately 200 prisoners were on the waitlist for the Building Choices programme at the end of the reporting year due to staff shortages.
Key concern 14
Staffing · Repeated from a previous year
Urgent attention needs to be given to the vetting of prison officers and staff recruited by partner agencies because the length of time it is taking is having a negative impact on the daily operation of the prison.
Key concern 15
Estate/Conditions · Repeated from a previous year
The length of time it is taking to replace laundry and catering machinery parts and/or broken equipment is having a negative impact on the daily lives of prisoners.
Key concern 16
Staffing · Repeated from a previous year
The recruitment and retention of prison officers remain an ongoing concern.
Key concern 17
Safety · Repeated from a previous year
The dropping of illicit items via drones continued to threaten the safety of all at HMP Onley.
Key concern 18
Estate/Conditions · Repeated from a previous year
The site wide upgrade of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) system is not happening despite assuring the Board in the response to last year’s annual report that funding had been secured.
Key concern 19
Education/Purposeful Activity
What further investment can be made to enable unused workshops to be brought back into operation so activity space capacity can be increased?
Key concern 20
Healthcare
Emergency escorts on occasion were declined by the prison due to staffing issues.
Key concern 21
Resettlement/Release · Repeated from a previous year
Property not following the prisoner on transfer to HMP Onley from another establishment continues to cause frustration.