Pentonville

What measures is the Minister planning to take to reduce overcrowding in the prison system, in light of the fact that the prison estate nationally is almost at capacity and projected to increase still further before additional spaces become available under the current prison building programme?

I understand the Board’s continued concerns on the operating capacity and crowding at HMP Pentonville. I can provide assurances to the Board that cells are only shared where a Prison Group Director has assessed them to be of adequate size and condition in line with the standards in the HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Cell Certification Framework, which ensures that prisoners are accommodated safely even when held in crowded conditions. Furthermore, the Board will be aware of the announcement that was made by the Lord Chancellor on 12 July 2024 to help reduce the pressure on prison places by temporarily reducing the time standard determinate sentenced prisoners serve in prison from 50% to 40% of their sentence, subject to certain exclusions. These measures will have a positive impact on lowering the proportion of crowding in the prison estate. However, I appreciate that the extent to which the proportion of prisoners held in crowded accommodation can be reduced will always be dependent on levels of demand in the system and this is why we are proactively addressing that pressure in the longer-term – we plan to publish a ten-year prison capacity strategy shortly and have recently announced an Independent Sentencing Review.

How can the Minister justify the lack of urgency by HMPPS to address the appalling state of the main mosque roof?

I recognise the Board’s concerns around the condition of the main mosque roof, and I am pleased to confirm that funding to repair the roof has been secured for the financial year 2024/2025. In addition to this, a bid to replace the roof has been submitted and will be considered for inclusion in future capital maintenance programmes.

The 2022 Prisoners’ Property Framework has yet to have any positive impact on the transfer of property between prisons. Will HMPPS commit to an evidence-based review of the Framework?

HMPPS note the Board’s continuing concerns about the handling of prisoners’ property. This is an area to which HMPPS is currently giving further attention. Careful consideration will be given to the findings in the recently received IMB national thematic report on how property loss impacts on prisoners, as well as those due to be received from Independent Prisoner Complaint Investigations in the coming months following a thematic review of the property complaints they have received in the last five years.
A local review is being completed into the management of Prisoner’s Property at Pentonville to ensure the systems in place are sufficient, and that a quality assurance process is built in to enable early monitoring of any concerns or issues.

The ACCT documentation (revised in 2022) is poorly drafted, overly complicated and many staff are not able to complete it adequately. Will HMPPS commit to an urgent review of this essential, potentially lifesaving, documentation?

The ACCT v6 was piloted in a number of prisons prior to its implementation and feedback from the pilot sites was taken into account before finalising the ACCT v6 document. Any specific concerns about the form can be raised with the Safety Group Lead via stakeholder engagement communications.
Locally at HMP Pentonville, robust action is being taken to improve ACCT standards in the prison through the introduction of the ACCT Single Case Management process. Managerial oversight of ACCTs is in place, which includes the completion of wing manager Quality Assurance Checks to ensure the documentation is to the required standard.

Will HMPPS provide extra support to the OMU who are under unsustainable pressure from dealing with the multiple government-imposed measures taken to manage overcrowding alongside their business as usual workload?

HMP Pentonville have been in receipt of additional resource, deployed from the Civil Service Surge and Rapid Response Team, to assist with the additional workload and pressure generated from the early release schemes. In addition, HMPPS has sought and received HM Treasury approval for a finite period to provide additional support into any prisons that are experiencing acute pressure within their Offender Management Units, via the non-operational Stability Payment scheme. HMP Pentonville have ringfenced resources within OMU for the past six months to ensure an appropriate focus on Offender Management delivery as necessary. Additional support has also been provided to OMU through deployment of an additional member of the Senior Leadership Team to provide increased managerial oversight.

Growing numbers of prisoners accused or convicted of sex offences are held in Pentonville. Delivering a meaningful and rehabilitative regime to this vulnerable group safely is very challenging. Will HMPPS commit to delivering greater local support and a national strategy?

HMPPS recognises the increase in the number of People Convicted of Sexual Offences (PCoSOs) and other vulnerable prisoners (VPs). Work has been taking place to expand the number of places offered for this group of prisoners and, since March 2024 c.1000 additional Category C PCoSO/VP places have been brought online through a combination of new accommodation and reconfiguring main accommodation for VPs. Further projects to reconfigure another c.900 places are currently underway and a strategy to deliver more places in the medium to longer term is in the process of being drawn up.
Though it is encouraging that the Board has noted they do not have concerns around safety of the PCoSOs population at HMP Pentonville, the Board’s concern to provide the growing number of these prisoners with more space and to continue the work started to improve their regime is recognised. The prison has identified a new wing with additional capacity to continue to support the regime improvements for these prisoners.

Will you commit to ringfence the work of the wider safer custody team, including in particular the Violence Reduction Officer and Equality staff?

Do you commit to remove the restriction on the number of showers that a prisoner on Basic can take on the grounds that it infringes the prisoner’s right to decency?

Will you commit to reinstate auditing of the quality of responses sent by the prison to prisoner complaints?

What will you do to resurrect the important key worker scheme?