Prison
Cat C male training prison
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Stocken
IMB Annual Report 2023 · Published 16 November 2023
HMP Stocken, a Category C male training prison, generally provides a safe and humane environment with commendable out-of-cell time and good physical healthcare. However, the Board remains concerned about the high number of prisoners with mental health issues and significant delays in transfers to secure facilities. Staffing levels, particularly in key work and education management, continue to be a challenge, impacting regime delivery and offender management. The report also highlights issues with inappropriate transfers, long waiting times for programmes, and the need to improve the education provision and increase food allowance.
Positive Findings
HMP Stocken is generally a safe place where prisoners are treated fairly and humanely, with commendable out-of-cell time and good physical healthcare. The employment hub is working well to help prisoners find work on release, and there are improvements in transfers to Cat D establishments and the quality of ACCT documents. The chaplaincy is now fully staffed, and the healthcare team has met most vaccination targets.
Key Concerns
Resettlement/Release
The number of inappropriate transfers has risen over the last year. This includes prisoners who are transferred on open assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) documents and prisoners who have only been in prison for a few days or weeks. Hence, prisoner flow is still not working as it should.
Resettlement/Release
Whilst the situation regarding the transfer prisoners to Cat D establishments has improved the transfer of prisoners to Cat B establishments takes too long.
Resettlement/Release
Our view is that the Population Management Unit (PMU) is ineffective and a significant contributing factor to the issue of transferring prisoners mentioned above.
Resettlement/Release
The waiting times for programmes is too long when prisoners are required to complete programmes as part of their sentence plan.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Wing-based electronic kiosks should be provided on the wings.
Food/Catering
With the rise in the cost of living, particularly food, the food allowance allocated to feed each prisoner needs to be increased.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Repeated
The education provider is still not providing a good service (as also reported in last year’s annual report) and the education contract needs to be reviewed.
Staffing
Repeated
continued effort is needed to address the staffing and recruitment levels.
Mental Health
Repeated
the time taken to transfer suitable prisoners to secure mental health facilities is too long.
Resettlement/Release
the number of prisoners being released directly from Stocken has also increased which, given Stocken is not a resettlement prison, is a concern for the Board. The prison is not funded as a resettlement prison and it is not satisfactory for establishments like Stocken to have to bid for funding and resources in order to ensure prisoners are resettled properly on release.
Overcrowding
There are concerns that provision of other facilities will not be increased despite the increased number of prisoners and some single cells have had to be converted to double occupancy.
Segregation
Repeated
Board is concerned about prisoners being held in segregation for extended periods of time before being transferred to secure mental health facilities.
Staffing
Key working has not returned to the level achieved before the pandemic and is being impacted by staffing shortages.
Other
Repeated
lost property is still an issue particularly when prisoners are transferred from another establishment, with a lack of cooperation from establishments regarding complaints and volumetric controls. This issue has not been addressed.
Healthcare
Stocken still does not have a dispensing pharmacy and the Board would like the opening of one in the prison to be considered.
Substance Misuse
prisoners on methadone were not being reviewed regularly enough to promote reduction.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staffing challenges persist at HMP Stocken, with the Board noting ongoing concerns about recruitment and retention, despite a reduced attrition rate. Staff shortages impact key working, cancellation of Equality meetings, and heavy workloads for mental health and OMU teams. The recruitment and retention of catering staff remain difficult, and there is a high turnover of education managers.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision is generally good, matching community standards, and vaccination targets have mostly been met. However, there is significant concern regarding the high number of prisoners with mental health issues and the lengthy delays in transferring suitable individuals to secure mental health facilities. Staffing challenges include a shared pharmacist, difficulty recruiting a substance misuse nurse, and a heavy workload for the mental health team. The Board also recommends considering a dispensing pharmacy and ensuring regular methadone prescription reviews.
Regime & Daily Life
The Board commends the prison for its efforts to maintain a high level of out-of-cell time, with prisoners generally receiving between 2.5 and nine hours daily, depending on their status. Regular attendance at workshops and classes is very good, exceeding 90%. Fewer prisoners are locked up for extended periods on weekends compared to similar prisons. However, structured on-wing activity has largely ceased due to staffing issues.
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 | 7 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogues | 4 | 7 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives scheme, sanctions | 20 | 20 | — |
| Equality | 9 | 3 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 18 | 16 | |
| Food and kitchens | 6 | 0 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 33 | 15 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection, restrictions | 9 | 13 | |
| Miscellaneous | 3 | 46 | |
| Property during transfer or in another facility | 52 | 33 | |
| Property within the establishment | 17 | 12 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, time out of cell | 18 | 34 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, ROTL, parole, release dates, re-categorisation | 47 | 31 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 40 | 49 | |
| Transfers | 25 | 23 |
Recommendations (8)
HMPPS: 7
Governor / Director: 1
2 repeated
Recommendation 1
The number of inappropriate transfers has risen over the last year. This includes prisoners who are transferred on open assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) documents and prisoners who have only been in prison for a few days or weeks. Hence, prisoner flow is still not working as it should.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 2
Whilst the situation regarding the transfer prisoners to Cat D establishments has improved the transfer of prisoners to Cat B establishments takes too long.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 3
Our view is that the Population Management Unit (PMU) is ineffective and a significant contributing factor to the issue of transferring prisoners mentioned above.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 4
The waiting times for programmes is too long when prisoners are required to complete programmes as part of their sentence plan. We understand that this is a national issue but it causes prisoners aggravation when they have been transferred to Stocken to complete a programme.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 5
Wing-based electronic kiosks should be provided on the wings.
HMPPS
Regime
Recommendation 6
With the rise in the cost of living, particularly food, the food allowance allocated to feed each prisoner needs to be increased.
HMPPS
Food
Recommendation 7
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The education provider is still not providing a good service (as also reported in last year’s annual report) and the education contract needs to be reviewed.
HMPPS
Education
Recommendation 8
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
We are pleased to see that the staff attrition rate has reduced but continued effort is needed to address the staffing and recruitment levels.
Governor / Director
Staffing
Other IMB Reports for Stocken
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
16 Jan 2023
Unannounced
Safety: 4
Respect: 3
Activity: 2
Release: 3
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.