Channings Wood

The Board is increasingly concerned by the adverse consequences of overcrowding. The efforts of managers to mitigate the impact is recognised, but for the most part effective remedies are beyond their control. While safety and decency are the most obvious risk areas, also affected are: new arrivals, excessive demand on purposeful activity, offender management and Healthcare facilities, disruption to education and skills training, offending behaviour programmes and resettlement activity caused by short notice moves from other prisons, ability to maintain family contact, general stability of the prison regime.

After a temporary fall last year, levels of self-harm are increasing and above the average seen at comparator prisons. Assaults have risen by 20% with serious assaults up by 70%, but assaults on staff have remained static at three in the past 12 months.

Despite measures to intercept illicit items, the Board is concerned that such items, especially drugs, present a risk to discipline and prisoners’ safety and wellbeing, by fuelling debt and its consequences.

The length of time taken to effect repairs (especially those involving roof repairs) on living blocks, workshops and key equipment is having a very significant impact on decency standards and the delivery of purposeful activity.

The use of the segregation unit as a place of safety for those with acute mental health problems while awaiting transfer to a specialist secure unit is inappropriate.

The delivery of key work has been limited and has not met the reduced targets set by senior managers.

Missing or lost property remains the main reason for applications (written representations that prisoners submit to the IMB). It is astonishing that the Prison Service and its contractors are unable to manage the efficient and secure movement and storage of prisoners’ property, particularly during transfers. There has been no improvement whatsoever in this area, despite the introduction of the Prisoners’ Property Policy Framework in August 2022.

There are concerns over the provision of suitable accommodation and regime for older prisoners, especially those with conditions such as dementia or limited mobility. In one case, the Board was told that care fell short of that which could be expected in the community. While recognising that a lack of accessible or specialist accommodation for an ageing population is a national issue which cannot be solved at a local level, it is considered unacceptable, nonetheless.

Some education classes and workshops have not operated at full capacity due to instructor shortages or delays to repairs by Government Facilities Services Limited (GFSL). Over the winter months many industries’ locations had to close due to cold weather. At one point only 196 prisoners (just 52% of industries’ capacity) were able to attend work.

Offender management and the key work that complements it are undermined by staff shortages and high caseloads. Staff vacancies, lack of overtime, detached duty, non profiled tasks and high prisoner churn have contributed to a backlog of offender assessments, with some prisoners arriving without completed assessments.

Recommendation 1

The Board has noted its concerns over the provision of adequate care for an increasingly ageing population. For those with health and/or mobility conditions, results within a prison environment lean towards less favourable outcomes. The much trailed and delayed older offenders or ageing population strategy is still awaited. When will it be published and what assurances can the Minister provide that the strategy will be properly resourced to ensure adequate provision for older prisoners across the prison estate?

Other (minister) Healthcare

Recommendation 2

The Board has observed the steady and detrimental impact of acute population pressures across a range of prison services. The planned expansion at Channings Wood is part of the national programme intended to address this. Can the Minister assure the Board that the provision of new infrastructure will not be at the expense of maintaining the current and ageing estate? The annual report has noted the excessive time taken to carry out some repairs to key buildings and equipment. This adversely affects not just living conditions for prisoners but also access to many of the activities which help prepare them for release. Over the next few years, will an equal priority be given to maintaining the current old estate as to funding the new?

Other (minister) Estate

Recommendation 3 Repeated Prev. unaddressed

For many years the Board has reported on the apparent inability of the prison service to move prisoners’ property from one prison to another without loss. This is consistently the single biggest issue that prisoners bring to the Board’s attention. It is an ongoing source of frustration, takes an inordinate amount of staff time to investigate (let alone resolve) and represents an avoidable expense in compensation paid. In the Board’s opinion, the implementation of Prisoners’ Property Policy Framework has done nothing to improve the situation. What does the prison service intend to do next to try to resolve this longstanding failure?

HMPPS Other

Recommendation 4 Repeated

After a welcome and sustained downward trend in many safety indicators, the Board has noted an increase is serious assaults, the number of prisoners self-isolating and above average levels of self-harm. Given the belief that the main underlying cause is the availability of drugs, what further measures can be taken to intercept them? Are there further technological solutions which would assist if they were made available at Channings Wood?

Governor / Director Safety

Recommendation 5 Repeated Prev. unaddressed

As one manager told the Board in 2021, ‘You can’t achieve OMiC if you can’t achieve key work’. Last year, HM Inspectorate of Prisons stated: ‘The absence of a functioning key worker scheme exacerbated the problems that prisoners told us they faced in getting things done.’ For several reasons (and even under the delivery to priority groups only model) key work is not being achieved. Early evidence had suggested that good key work could have a range of positive effects: on safety, a reduction in the number of adjudications, improved communication to address prisoners’ concerns before they became complaints, cited in the Measuring the Quality of Prison Life (MQPL) survey (a questionnaire for prisoners) as the ability to ‘get things done’. Can the Governor tell the Board when he plans to return to full key work delivery and how he hopes to achieve this?

Governor / Director Staffing