Key concerns 39 items
Key concerns were extracted from the report text by an AI model.
Key concern 1
Safety
The number of prisoners on open assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) plans remains high, and the level of violence has increased.
Key concern 2
Substance Misuse
Illicit substances are still widely available and seem to be contributing to the violence and debt problems despite the work undertaken by the prison.
Key concern 3
Estate/Conditions · Repeated from a previous year
The Board remains concerned about the condition of the older wings (A and B wings) and the plan to increase more double cells across the prison, with refurbishment work continuously delayed.
Key concern 4
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The Board is concerned about the length of time that prisoners are out of their cells, as a lack of staff means regimes need to be regularly curtailed.
Key concern 5
Education/Purposeful Activity
Reductions in education funding, both locally and nationally, have impacted the ability for the prison to run some classes and support for prisoners.
Key concern 6
Resettlement/Release
The offender management unit (OMU) has been extremely busy with numerous changes to sentences and release arrangements, impacting prisoners who are unable to speak to OMU staff.
Key concern 7
Staffing
Delays in the vetting process are affecting both the recruitment of IMB members and staffing across organisations working at HMP Wealstun.
Key concern 8
Staffing
The ban on band 4 recruitment for several months during the reporting period has adversely affected the ability of the prison to recruit necessary staff, especially in workshops.
Key concern 9
Education/Purposeful Activity
The lack of places on the new accredited Building Choices course is impacting prisoners’ ability to progress.
Key concern 10
Staffing
Considerable lengths of time to recruit new officers have severely impacted the regime and the treatment of prisoners.
Key concern 11
Safety · Repeated from a previous year
ACCT files often contain only the most recent week’s paperwork, with older records not archived or stored separately, making them difficult to navigate.
Key concern 12
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The farm and gardens are not being utilised as they had been previously, impacting their potential to support the kitchens.
Key concern 13
Healthcare
The DARS service could benefit from further funding to help increase their reach and work with more prisoners.
Key concern 14
Safety
The netting does not cover all areas prisoners can access during outdoor activity, posing a risk for illicit item entry.
Key concern 15
Safety
Gate searching for staff does not appear to be carried out for every entry, which the Board believes should be standard.
Key concern 16
Estate/Conditions
Difficulties with temperature control across the prison persist, as the whole heating system has to be either on or off.
Key concern 17
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Prisoners are observed vaping on the landings of wings, which is against prison rules, and some officers appear unwilling to challenge them.
Key concern 18
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Concerns remain that moving laundry to a centralised system may create issues such as missing items for prisoners.
Key concern 19
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The majority of prisoners are employed only part-time, leading to lower wages and making it difficult for some to afford basic canteen items due to rising prices.
Key concern 20
Food/Catering
The daily food budget remains at £3.12 per person, per day, despite national inflation, putting huge pressure on catering.
Key concern 21
Food/Catering
Food trolleys are occasionally observed dirty, and serveries on wings are not always supervised by officers, leading to allegations of unfair portioning and unhygienic practices.
Key concern 22
Food/Catering
Prisoners with low literacy levels face difficulties with menus that provide nutrition and allergy information in written form, and meal choices are sometimes incorrect due to scanning errors.
Key concern 23
Food/Catering
Inconsistencies have been observed across wings in the provision of cooking equipment for prisoners.
Key concern 24
Segregation
Computer lists provided to the Board for the segregation unit have, occasionally, not been accurate when compared with the office wall noticeboard.
Key concern 25
Complaints/Property
The number of adjudications being adjourned has led to a backlog, although this has considerably reduced since January 2026.
Key concern 26
Staffing
The lack of officers means prisoners rarely see their key worker, and actual delivery of key worker sessions is very low.
Key concern 27
Equality/Diversity
The prison continues not to meet its challenging performance target regarding the disparity between ethnicity and the use of force.
Key concern 28
Resettlement/Release
The Sycamore Tree Project, a victim-awareness and restorative-justice programme, is no longer delivered at Wealstun due to changes in national framework endorsement.
Key concern 29
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The Incentives Policy Framework (IPF) does not always appear to be followed by the prison, especially regarding TV removal for prisoners on the basic level.
Key concern 30
Healthcare
Prisoners reported delays in accessing medication and specialist healthcare services, and receiving insufficient information about their medication management.
Key concern 31
Mental Health
Recruitment to a substantive clinical psychologist post has been challenging, with psychological input currently provided on a fortnightly basis by a visiting psychologist.
Key concern 32
Mental Health
There is a significant prevalence of neurodiversity, and concerns exist about the timeliness and availability of support, with some vulnerable prisoners relying on informal peer support.
Key concern 33
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Frequent disruptions to the regime, caused by staffing shortages, maintenance, staff training, and unexpected incidents, lead to inconsistency across wings.
Key concern 34
Education/Purposeful Activity · Repeated from a previous year
A disappointing fall in library uptake continues, with officer enthusiasm for escort duties varying and affecting prisoner access.
Key concern 35
Resettlement/Release
CIAG (careers information, advice and guidance) provision has been affected by staffing shortages for much of the year, with a single member of staff covering a role intended for two.
Key concern 36
Staffing
Problems with recruiting workshop instructors due to a ban on recruiting band 4 staff have resulted in some Extended Working Week workshops not being fully opened.
Key concern 37
Resettlement/Release
Communication with the OMU continues to be difficult to navigate for prisoners, who report being unable to contact their POMs or obtain sentence information.
Key concern 38
Resettlement/Release
A continued shortage of accommodation is available to prisoners on release, with 16% of those released on licence lacking first-night accommodation.
Key concern 39
Resettlement/Release
The Growth Company can now only offer support to prisoners from the Yorkshire and Humber region due to funding model changes, leaving a gap for many prisoners.