Staffing
Repeated
Provision for the Probation Service in the OMU is still seemingly insufficient to meet the demand of the current prison population at HMP Oakwood. If the intention is to reduce the number of prisoners returning on recall for breaching their license conditions, then can the Minister ensure that the probation service funding is increased to be able to meet this aim?
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
Of the 91 IPP prisoners at HMP Oakwood, 71 are on recall (77%). Given that the majority are ten or more years over their original tariff, will extra funding be given to the Probation Service to prioritise reducing this recall percentage for IPP prisoners?
Equality/Diversity
There is only one Neurodiversity Coordinator (appointed by the Ministry of Justice) to each prison in England, including HMP Oakwood, irrespective of its population and need. HMP Oakwood’s neurodiversity coordinator currently estimates that it has 900 neurodiverse prisoners (40%). Can the Minister review the neurodiversity funding for individual prisons to support their specific needs and size of population?
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
Since the implementation of the Prisoners’ Property Policy Framework in 2022, the Board remains concerned that it is seeing a lack of adherence to the policy, particularly with missing property from incoming prisoners. The highest numbers of complaints both to the prison and to the IMB continue to concern missing property. Can this ongoing concern continue to be addressed?
Mental Health
Repeated
All transfers to a secure mental health facility at Oakwood continued to exceed the 28-day stipulated timeframe (with reference to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) thematic review, ‘The Long Wait’, published in February 2024). Can this ongoing concern continue to be addressed?
Safety
Although the IMB receives the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman PPO final report on deaths in custody, it no longer receives the clinical review which previously came as an annex to the report. The Board feels that a lack of access to these reports limits its ability to monitor the outcomes of such reviews. Is it possible to allow access to such reports again?
Food/Catering
Repeated
How can the Director ensure that standards during service at the serveries are consistently high - wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ensuring equipment is working correctly)?
Complaints/Property
Can the Director work with the Development and Assurance (D & A) department to address the issue of the availability of prison complaint forms on the houseblocks?
Complaints/Property
Can the Director work with health champions and members of the HAS Line, a prisoner-led initiative which works with Healthcare, to address the issue of the availability of health complaint forms on the houseblocks?
Complaints/Property
30% of the complaints received were converted to three-day requests this reporting year. Can the Director ensure that that this proportion of conversions can be justified and that the process is demonstrated to be transparent for prisoners?
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Can the Director review again whether there are sufficient resources to manage the internal movement of property?
Equality/Diversity
Can the Director work with the chaplaincy to facilitate a Rabbi joining their team?
Other
Can the Director facilitate the installation of IMB information noticeboards in the admissions area and on the induction wings to further inform and promote the work of the IMB?
Safety
Mobile phone possessions are referred to the police but currently they are referred back due to staffing issues within the police force.
Safety
There is still a backlog of UoF statements that are missing several weeks after the incident occurred.
Safety
Following a Judicial Review, the security team are only allowed to body scan cohorts of prisoners after having provided evidence of potential concealment of illicit items. It is the Board’s review that this restricts the prison’s ability to offer a deterrent to prisoners.
Estate/Conditions
There have been a number of complaints during the year that laundry and cooking equipment has been reported as being faulty / not working but it has taken weeks, and in some cases months, for them to be repaired or replaced.