Durham

It is regrettable that overcrowding continues to be a concern. This is not a simple issue and that is why on 12 July 2024, the Lord Chancellor announced a package of measures aimed at addressing prison capacity issues and preventing the collapse of the criminal justice system. Further, on 11 December 2024, we set out our long-term plan for prison capacity through the publication of the 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. This sets out our plans to deliver 14,000 new prison places and create a resilient prison estate that includes the construction of four new prisons as well as expansion and refurbishment of the existing prison estate. Whilst this does not address the immediate crowding and cell sharing issues at HMP Durham, the strategy underlines our commitment to improving the overall estate and future direction.

As mentioned in last year’s response, the Community Accommodation Services (CAS) Tier 2 service provides short-term accommodation for individuals on bail or Home Detention Curfew. The CAS Tier 2 provision in the North East region is at 88 bed spaces, with a further four bed spaces planned to be opened in 2025. There are currently no further expansion plans in the North East for 2025/2026. However, 55 of the 88 bed spaces were opened in 2024/25, which represents a 167% increase in North East CAS Tier 2 provision in the last twelve months. In neighbouring Cumbria, eight new CAS Tier 2 bed spaces were opened in March 2025 (previously there was no CAS Tier 2 provision in Cumbria). There are currently 110 beds overall in the North West CAS Tier 2 provision and will continue to expand into 2025/2026 by a further ten bed spaces.
CAS Tier 3 supports prison leavers who are at risk of being released from prison homeless and will be subject to probation supervision upon release. As the Board will be aware, the CAS Tier 3 contract in the North East Probation region is for 124 bed spaces. These are dispersed across the region and the contract ensures that 50% of these are for sole occupancy. Individuals will be offered up to twelve weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release. Cumbria’s CAS Tier 3 contract is for 285 bedspaces. There are currently thirty CAS Tier 3 beds provided within the Cumbria area of the North West region, which is proportionate to the remaining area. There are not currently any plans to further expand the CAS Tier 3 provision in these regions during 2025/2026.

HMPPS is investing £2.3 billion in prison buildings for the financial years 2024/2025 and 2025/2026, and £500 million over two years in prison and probation service maintenance to improve conditions across the estate. The aims and intentions of the 20,000 prison place programmes are to build a modern, efficient prison estate that is safe and productive to live and work in. This involves improving the physical design and structures of the sites to encompass the safety of all individuals.
In new prisons such as HMPs Five Wells, Fosse Way and Millsike, and in the expansion projects that use the new houseblock design, HMPPS has catered for a growing number of elderly and/or disabled prisoners by providing a larger number of accessible cells including low mobility cells, wheelchair accessible cells, and medical cells for a range of accessibility needs associated with older prisoners. Amenities have been designed to ensure that there is equality of access for all prisoners through their locations on ground floor levels, ensuring lifts are available and by building technology infrastructures that enable the use of hearing loops and other technology that can support access and care for elderly prisoners. Specific activity spaces will be provided that would enable older prisoners to engage in age-appropriate activities, and décor designed to aid a person’s wayfinding and accounts for needs around dementia and other cognitive impairments prevalent within the older prisoner cohort.

Boiler replacements in A, B, C, D, and E wings were completed in April 2025. A bid has also been submitted for replacement boilers in the gymnasium and workshops and is currently awaiting confirmation of funding approval for the current financial year. The Board will appreciate there are budgetary pressures and whilst all requests from the establishment will be considered, demands for maintenance are much greater than the available funding. Therefore, once a bid for a project is received, HMPPS must prioritise works very carefully to make best use of that funding, focusing on risk to life and risk to capacity and decency.

HMPPS provides individualised support through the case management process for people assessed as at risk of suicide and self-harm. This approach places a strong emphasis on identifying individual risks, triggers and protective factors and having effective care plans in place to record, address and mitigate risks. All new members of staff with prisoner contact receive training on suicide and self-harm prevention. All staff who undertake key roles relating to risk assessment and case management also receive specific training relating to these roles. HMPPS has created a quality assurance tool to help establishments understand how effectively they are using the case management process to support those at risk of self-harm or suicide. We continue to work with Samaritans to provide support in the period following a self-inflicted death to reduce the risk of further deaths and for the delivery of the Listener scheme, through which selected prisoners are trained to provide emotional support to their fellow prisoners. During 2023 Samaritans volunteers and Listeners offered emotional support to 2,675 prisoners and 55 staff following 43 incidents of self-inflicted deaths. Locally at HMP Durham, all PPO recommendations following a death in custody during the reporting year due to natural causes have been completed with assurance of compliance provided via the Prison Group Director safety team. No recommendations were made by the PPO following the self-inflicted deaths. Significant changes have been implemented at the prison to improve safety outcomes and prevent further deaths in custody. Reception opening hours have been extended to 22:00hrs, which is matched by the health providers. This has contributed to a significant decrease month on month in the number of prisoners not receiving a first night health screen. Figures for March 2025 show that only 2.6% of arrivals did not receive a health screen (2.1% excluding those refusing to undergo a screening). Assurance has been introduced on the completion of enhanced first night welfare checks, and the recent reprofiling exercise has increased the night staffing complement to bolster early days work. The Local Safety Strategy was launched in January 2025, aligned with the National Safety Strategy, which sets out strategic actions to support reductions in self-harm, violence and debt. An Early Days in Custody working group, chaired by the Deputy Governor, now drives and monitors progress across all elements of the first night and induction. This includes changes to reception processes to reduce the time prisoners spend there before locating to the First Night Centre; ensuring all Spectrum staff have access to the digital personal escort records and Suicide and Self-Harm (SASH) warning forms; Samaritans trained Listeners being available on first night in custody; putting in place a comprehensive second-day induction, and improvements to quality around defensible decisions made for prisoners arriving with SASH warning forms where an Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) document is not opened. A quality assurance process for ACCT documents has been implemented in line with national expectations and standards, enabling feedback and learning for case coordinators.

HMPPS provides individualised support through the case management process for people assessed as at risk of suicide and self-harm. This approach places a strong emphasis on identifying individual risks, triggers and protective factors and having effective care plans in place to record, address and mitigate risks. All new members of staff with prisoner contact receive training on suicide and self-harm prevention. All staff who undertake key roles relating to risk assessment and case management also receive specific training relating to these roles. HMPPS has created a quality assurance tool to help establishments understand how effectively they are using the case management process to support those at risk of self-harm or suicide. We continue to work with Samaritans to provide support in the period following a self-inflicted death to reduce the risk of further deaths and for the delivery of the Listener scheme, through which selected prisoners are trained to provide emotional support to their fellow prisoners. During 2023 Samaritans volunteers and Listeners offered emotional support to 2,675 prisoners and 55 staff following 43 incidents of self-inflicted deaths. Locally at HMP Durham, all PPO recommendations following a death in custody during the reporting year due to natural causes have been completed with assurance of compliance provided via the Prison Group Director safety team. No recommendations were made by the PPO following the self-inflicted deaths. Significant changes have been implemented at the prison to improve safety outcomes and prevent further deaths in custody. Reception opening hours have been extended to 22:00hrs, which is matched by the health providers. This has contributed to a significant decrease month on month in the number of prisoners not receiving a first night health screen. Figures for March 2025 show that only 2.6% of arrivals did not receive a health screen (2.1% excluding those refusing to undergo a screening). Assurance has been introduced on the completion of enhanced first night welfare checks, and the recent reprofiling exercise has increased the night staffing complement to bolster early days work. The Local Safety Strategy was launched in January 2025, aligned with the National Safety Strategy, which sets out strategic actions to support reductions in self-harm, violence and debt. An Early Days in Custody working group, chaired by the Deputy Governor, now drives and monitors progress across all elements of the first night and induction. This includes changes to reception processes to reduce the time prisoners spend there before locating to the First Night Centre; ensuring all Spectrum staff have access to the digital personal escort records and Suicide and Self-Harm (SASH) warning forms; Samaritans trained Listeners being available on first night in custody; putting in place a comprehensive second-day induction, and improvements to quality around defensible decisions made for prisoners arriving with SASH warning forms where an Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) document is not opened. A quality assurance process for ACCT documents has been implemented in line with national expectations and standards, enabling feedback and learning for case coordinators.

We now have a monthly decency walk that all managers participate in to ensure standards are being met and, when not, we address the issue. Now a decency meeting is in place to ensure that we meet the minimum standards of providing the right kit and cell contents for all prisoners. Cell marshals will be introduced to ensure cells are clean and fit for purpose before a prisoner moves into the cell. The E wing custody manager (CM) will ensure that kit packs are in place for all new prisoners to ensure they receive the right clothing and bedding on their first night in custody. A new painting party is starting on E wing to bring the standard of cells up and ensure they are clean and decent.