Prison
Cat High Security (A/B)
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Wakefield
IMB Annual Report 2023 · Published 15 March 2024
HMP Wakefield, a high-security prison, is generally considered safe and humane, with observed improvements in healthcare provision. However, the Board noted a significant increase in prisoner-on-prisoner assaults and ongoing concerns regarding staffing experience levels, which impact prisoner safety and support quality. Delays in mental health transfers to secure hospitals remain a major issue, alongside an insufficient purposeful activity regime and challenges with prisoner property management.
Positive Findings
The Board generally considers HMP Wakefield safe, calm, and fair. Significant improvements have been observed in healthcare provision, with general healthcare staffing levels almost fully met by the end of the reporting period. The kitchen delivers good provision, and the prison has good systems for addressing discrimination complaints. Education success rates are high, and the Offender Management Unit delivers a very good service. Family contact initiatives, including monthly family days, are well-regarded.
Key Concerns
Safety
there were 106 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in this reporting year (a large increase, from 51, in the last reporting period)
Staffing
The staffing profile is of concern to the Board: the ongoing prison officer recruitment campaign and associated use of detached duty is leading to a reduction in the number of experienced prison officers at HMP Wakefield.
Safety
The physical security of the prison, and associated infrastructure to prevent the use of ‘drones’... requires attention.
Mental Health
Repeated
We remain concerned by the significant delays in accessing transfers to a secure hospital for prisoners who are in urgent need of mental health treatment.
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
We ask the Minister to act in respect of prisoners at HMP Wakefield who are substantially over tariff and subject to the consequences of the now discredited ‘sentences of imprisonment for public protection [IPP]’.
Estate/Conditions
For prisoners who face mobility problems, the accommodation is not ideal.
Estate/Conditions
The physical infrastructure, by virtue of its age, presents challenges in maintaining humane living standards for prisoners and working conditions for staff.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Purposeful activity – we remain concerned that too many men are not meaningfully engaged in education or work opportunities.
Other
Prisoner property – we remain concerned that prisoners do not receive ‘in possession’ property from reception in a timely manner.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The astroturf sports pitch has been unavailable for several years. The pitch provides much needed opportunities for physical exercise.
Segregation
The Board remains of the view that segregation staff face a significant challenge in managing prisoners who refuse to leave segregation. On occasion, the Board has felt it necessary to object to further Rule 45 segregation on this basis. We do not think it is acceptable to expect staff at HMP Wakefield to manage these prisoners in the absence of a clear and achievable reintegration strategy.
Mental Health
The IMB remains concerned about the time taken to address the mental health issues of certain individuals and those who have spent an extraordinary amount of time in segregation.
Board Commentary
Staffing
The staffing profile is a concern due to recruitment campaigns and detached duty reducing experienced officers. The prison had to over-recruit, resulting in 323 officers against a designated 264. 78 officers left, and over a third have less than a year's experience, with 82 under 25 with less than two years' service. This lack of experience means managers have more staff to train, guide, and mentor, leading to a decreased quality of support, which adversely affects prisoners who sometimes feel unsafe. Healthcare and the Mental Health Service also faced staffing complexities, though general healthcare departments were almost fully staffed by April 2023. The Mental Health Team, however, operated at critical staffing levels for some of the reporting period.
Healthcare
The Board observed significant improvements in healthcare provision, although they remain concerned by significant delays in transferring prisoners with urgent mental health needs to secure hospitals, with successful transfers averaging six months. Practice Plus Group provides primary care and mental health services, and by April 2023, general healthcare departments were almost fully staffed. However, the healthcare building requires repair, and the newly installed sluice cannot be used effectively. The Integrated Mental Health Team faced critical staffing levels for part of the year, leading to initial triage appointment waiting times peaking at eight weeks, though this reduced to two weeks by year-end.
Regime & Daily Life
HMP Wakefield provides a regime that is generally considered fair and humane, but it faces challenges due to the age of its physical infrastructure and issues like inadequate accommodation for prisoners with mobility problems. The segregation unit's daily regime is often frustrated by staff availability and prisoner willingness, with access to showers being inadequate (three times a week). The Close Supervision Centre operates a highly restricted but predictable regime. Following Covid recovery, time out of cell for exercise, domestics, and association increased throughout the year, with prisoners eventually offered a normal full regime. However, the Board remains concerned that too many men are not meaningfully engaged in education or work opportunities.
Applications to the IMB
Prisoners can apply to their IMB about any aspect of their treatment. This table shows application counts by category.
| Category | Current | Previous | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation, including laundry, clothing, ablutions | 10 | 21 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogues | 5 | 7 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives scheme, sanctions | 16 | 23 | |
| Equality | 2 | 4 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 9 | 16 | |
| Food and kitchens | 4 | 6 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 35 | 64 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection, restrictions | 7 | 16 | |
| Miscellaneous | 24 | 38 | |
| Property during transfer or in another facility | 9 | 12 | |
| Property within the establishment | 10 | 13 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, time out of cell | 17 | 18 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, ROTL, parole, release dates, re-categorisation | 5 | 3 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 26 | 40 | |
| Transfers | 4 | 1 |
Recommendations (10)
Other: 3
HMPPS: 4
Governor / Director: 3
3 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
We ask the Minister to act in respect of prisoners at HMP Wakefield who are substantially over tariff and subject to the consequences of the now discredited ‘sentences of imprisonment for public protection [IPP]’ (see Criminal Justice Act 2003).
Other
(minister)
Resettlement
Recommendation 2
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
We ask the Minister to explain how the Government intends to address longstanding and yet unresolved problems with the assessment and transfer of prisoners who present with serious mental health and personality disorders from HMP Wakefield to hospital (section 47, Mental Health Act 1983).
Other
(minister)
Mental Health
Recommendation 3
Prev. unaddressed
We ask the Minister to act in respect of the substantial security threat posed by the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the vicinity of HMP Wakefield.
Other
(minister)
Safety
Recommendation 4
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
We repeat the recommendation in the IMB 2020-21 annual report and ask HMPPS to explore the possibility of implementing a nationally available set of legal resources for prisoners, including easy access to Prison Service Orders and Instructions.
HMPPS
Other
Recommendation 5
The astroturf sports pitch has been unavailable for several years. The pitch provides much needed opportunities for physical exercise. The Board urges HMPPS to reinstate the facility as soon as is reasonably practicable.
HMPPS
Regime
Recommendation 6
The Board asks HMPPS to clarify the support provided to the Governing Governor when assessing/selecting staff for ‘detached duty’ at other HMPPS establishments.
HMPPS
Staffing
Recommendation 7
Some elements of the prison’s physical security require immediate improvement.
HMPPS
Safety
Recommendation 8
Prisoner property – we remain concerned that prisoners do not receive ‘in possession’ property from reception in a timely manner. This causes avoidable frustration on the residential wings for prisoners, staff and IMB members alike.
Governor / Director
Other
Recommendation 9
Purposeful activity – we remain concerned that too many men are not meaningfully engaged in education or work opportunities.
Governor / Director
Education
Recommendation 10
Key work – the Board is provided with daily updates on the number of recorded key worker sessions. The Board is grateful to the Governor for the provision of this data. In some limited cases, key workers are providing detailed information on issues relayed to them by prisoners via the case notes on Digital Prison Services (DPS), but do not necessarily follow up on these, resulting in applications to the IMB.
Governor / Director
Staffing
Other IMB Reports for Wakefield
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.
Prevention of Future Deaths Reports
Coroner PFD reports issued to this establishment.