Recommendation 1
Recommendation (the Board's words)The Board eagerly awaits HMP Humber’s return to being a training and resettlement prison. When will the Minister consider this return?
Source text verified
Independent Monitoring Boards annual report
Humber
Report year 2024
Published 5 Aug 2025
Type Prison, category C resettlement prison
Population 1,034
Responsible body HMP Humber
4 recommendations
The summary and positive findings below were written from the report by an AI model. The Board's own wording is in the report linked above.
Summary
Summary written by this site (AI-generated)HMP Humber, a Category C resettlement prison, experienced significant challenges in 2024 due to high prisoner turnover and population pressures. While the Board commends management's efforts in maintaining safety and improving regime stability, issues persist concerning property loss, inadequate purposeful activity, and cell sharing. Healthcare provision is improving but faces space and recruitment challenges, while key worker schemes are compromised by staffing shortages.
Positive findings
Summary written by this site (AI-generated)The Board commends the professionalism and resilience of the Governor and SMT, who tirelessly prioritize safety and work to improve the regime. HMP Humber is generally a safe place for men, with a strong culture of care and effective use of data to counter negative trends. Staff-prisoner relationships are constructive, and significant improvements have been made in managing complaints and healthcare provision, including mental health services. The appointment of a long-term conditions nurse and positive collaboration with local authorities for resettlement are also welcomed.
Recommendations
- Recommendation 1Addressed to Ministry of Justice
- Recommendation 2Addressed to Ministry of Justice
- Recommendation 3Addressed to HMPPS
Key concerns
- Key concern 1Regime/Time Out of Cell
- Key concern 2Education/Purposeful Activity
- Key concern 3Resettlement/Release
Recommendations 4 items · 2 repeated
Recommendations were extracted from the report by AI, and responses and their status from the ministerial response by AI. Each recommendation shows whether its wording has been checked against the report.
Recommendation 2
Recommendation (the Board's words)Additionally, the Board looks forward to considering the proposed sentencing review and hopes there will be a greater emphasis on non-custodial sentences. Can the Minister provide a timeline for the review?
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Recommendation 3
Recommendation (the Board's words)Again, regrettably the issue of prisoner property has not improved with regard to prisoners transferring into HMP Humber. Levels of property loss between prisons still continue to be unacceptable. It causes stress to the individuals affected and also significant additional work for the prison staff, together with unnecessary costs to the taxpayer in compensation payments. It has been greatly exacerbated by the ‘churn’ of prisoners, moving around the estate, over the past year. Vague promises of digital changes in the long term are not helping with an immediate and longstanding daily problem. It appears to the Board that a significant cause of these losses is the result of poor contract strategy, which places insufficient onus on the transport provider and ineffective enforcement of performance standards. How and when will the Prison Service address this serious issue?
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Recommendation 4
Recommendation (the Board's words)The Board is strongly of the opinion that detaining prisoners in shared cells designed for single occupancy for long periods of time is not fair or decent. What steps will the Prison Service take to prevent this happening wherever possible?
Source text verified
Key concerns 11 items
Key concerns were extracted from the report text by an AI model.
Key concern 1
The Board is gravely concerned that the high level of ‘short time to release’ prisoners, has created significant ‘churn’ pressure on all functions within the prison, in some way. It has greatly impacted its ability to offer prisoners the structure, regime and support required for their care and subsequent transition back into the community.
Key concern 2
There were not enough education, skills or workplaces to meet the needs of a quarter of the prison population, and attendance was low.
Key concern 3
Too many prisoners were released to no fixed abode or to unsustainable accommodation.
Key concern 4
The prison was not doing enough to tackle the behaviour of perpetrators of violence.
Key concern 5
Violence and self-harm were often related to prisoners being in debt to others.
Key concern 6
Some areas of medicines’ management were weak and some clinical areas did not meet infection-control standards, creating unnecessary risk.
Key concern 7
There were gaps in the provision for prisoners with disabilities.
Key concern 8
256 prisoners were sharing cells designated for single occupancy, which the Board views as unsatisfactory or not decent.
Key concern 9
Even though the key worker figures have improved since the last reporting year, they have been low for most of the year. This is because staffing pressures often dictate that staff must be redeployed to other duties of a higher priority, due to the behaviour of prisoners, the need for escorts and restricted duties or staff sickness.
Key concern 10
Again, regrettably the issue of prisoner property has not improved with regard to prisoners transferring into HMP Humber. Levels of property loss between prisons still continue to be unacceptable. It causes stress to the individuals affected and also significant additional work for the prison staff, together with unnecessary costs to the taxpayer in compensation payments. It has been greatly exacerbated by the ‘churn’ of prisoners, moving around the estate, over the past year.
Key concern 11
Additional workload from increased population turnover and drug/alcohol influence has impacted healthcare providers, and clinic room space is oversubscribed.
Source wording under review
Safety statistics
Incidents during the reporting year.
| Indicator | This year | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths in custody | 6 | not recorded |
| Self-harm incidents | 1,175 | 725 |
| ACCT cases opened | 600 | 459 |
| Prisoner assaults | 238 | 129 |
| Assaults on staff | 104 | 79 |
| Use of force | 771 | 554 |
| Drug finds | 439 | 237 |
Population
| Population | 1,034 |
| Operational capacity | 1,079 |
Applications to the IMB
| Category | Current | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation (including transfers) | 45 | 38 |
| Charges and Adjudications | 12 | 10 |
| Healthcare | 46 | 59 |
| Other | 77 | 103 |
| Property (current establishment) | 25 | 23 |
| Property (from previous establishment) | 28 | 21 |
| Sentence Management | 40 | 32 |
| Total | 274 | 286 |
| Visits | 1 | 0 |
Report details
- Establishment
- Humber
- Type
- Prison, category C resettlement prison
- Report year
- 2024
- Published
- 5 August 2025
- Responsible body
- HMP Humber
- Recommendations
- 4
- MoJ rating (2025/26)
- 3, Good
Service providers
| Service | Provider |
|---|---|
| Catering | Aramark |
| Chaplaincy (Buddhist) | The Prison Phoenix Trust |
| Chaplaincy (Church of England) | The Diocese of York |
| Chaplaincy (Jewish) | Jewish Prison Chaplaincy |
| Chaplaincy (Latter-Day Saints) | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints |
| Chaplaincy (Muslim) | Khawaja Consultancy |
| Chaplaincy (Pagan) | Hull Pagans |
| Chaplaincy (Roman Catholic) | The Diocese of Middlesbrough |
| Chaplaincy (Sikh) | Vacant |
| Cleaning | Aramark |
| Dental | Time for Teeth |
| Education and Workshops | Novus |
| Healthcare | Spectrum Community Health CIC |
| IMB Secretariat | HMPPS |
| Laundry | Aramark |
| Mental Health | Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust |
| Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) | GeoAmey |
| Staffing | HMPPS |
| Substance Misuse | Change, Grow, Live |
| Utilities and Maintenance | Amey |
| Visitors Centre | Humberside CRC |