Safety
Prisoner-on-prisoner assaults increased during the reporting year.
Safety
Large number of prisoners return to closed conditions.
Substance Misuse
There were ongoing issues with illicit substances in the prison, despite enhanced security measures.
Overcrowding
The introduction of TPRS impacted on the treatment of all prisoners. Kirkham took 70% of those on the scheme across the entire country. The entire regime of this resettlement prison was disrupted due to the large influx of prisoners with very different needs, which the prison was not staffed to manage.
Healthcare
The health and wellbeing requirements have been difficult to meet, due to the increase in population and TPRS.
Staffing
Due to low staff numbers, purposeful activities, including gym time, have had to be curtailed. This has had an adverse effect on both the prisoners and the staff.
Resettlement/Release
Resettlement services were significantly impacted due to the introduction of TPRS. The prison was not supported sufficiently.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Access to education, library services and workshops were impacted by prison staff shortages.
Resettlement/Release
Prisoners told the Board that they were increasingly concerned about sentence progression and the Board observed a lack of communication with prisoners in this area.
Estate/Conditions
The IMB would like to see the remaining unused buildings removed in a timely manner due to safety implications.
Staffing
The IMB would like to see C2W programme issues addressed when using operational staff.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The IMB recommends that there should be a strategy for when activities are curtailed, due to redeployment of staff, to deal with absences/emergencies.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The IMB recommends that more work is done on the impact of gym sessions on attendance at other activities/education.
Estate/Conditions
Lack of heating and hot water continued to be a significant issue during the year, due to boiler and plumbing issues.
Estate/Conditions
There were maintenance and repair delays, with AMEY, the contractor, being put into special measures.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Although each billet has a phone in the communal area, prisoners are unable to have confidential conversations with friends and family and reported to the Board that they were frustrated, as previous establishments had in-cell telephony.
Healthcare
The number of prisoners going to hospital appointments outside the prison increased, as did the number of prisoners requiring a 24-hour bed watch. The Governor requested that staffing for these additional activities is addressed as part of the new upcoming healthcare contract, to avoid future staffing pressures and regime curtailments.
Mental Health
There were 177 more referrals to the mental health team this year than last year, which was a significant increase.
Resettlement/Release
The large increase in population during the year and large turnover has made the end of sentence preparation difficult. It has been a difficult year for the rehabilitation team to arrange for post-release supervision and treatment, with numbers of prisoners arriving with only a short time left to serve.
Resettlement/Release
Opportunities for working outside the prison are being hindered by ROTL processes arising from the increased workload exerted on the offender management unit (OMU) through the TPRS.
Staffing
The constant churn, together with the increased use of home detention curfew (HDC), has again diverted staff from their regular responsibilities.
Resettlement/Release
The change from ROTL books to paper licences has proved time consuming. When taken together with external police forces being dilatory in complying with their requirements, this has led to continuing stress and frustration in this busy and vital area of the prison.
Resettlement/Release
C2W remains in a separate building and is isolated and under-resourced. It is staffed by operational officers, leading to occasional disruption.
Resettlement/Release
The accommodation officer has been required to undertake a strategic role across the region, which has restricted her availability at HMP Kirkham. Whilst this has clearly been to the advantage of other institutions, it has had a marked impact locally.
Resettlement/Release
The influx of TPRS prisoners has, for the first time, led to a number of prisoners being released without settled accommodation. Many are unwilling to engage and come from areas distant from Kirkham, where resolution is more problematic.
Resettlement/Release
It is clear that a significant number of TPRS prisoners are arriving at Kirkham with a minimal amount of resettlement planning.