Prison
Cat C
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Featherstone
IMB Annual Report 2022 · Published 28 July 2023
HMP Featherstone experienced a challenging year, marked by significant staffing issues that disrupted the regime and various services, including healthcare and purposeful activity. The prison's aging infrastructure is a major concern, along with the inadequate management of mentally ill prisoners in segregation. While violence reduced and overall safety improved, issues with staff culture, property management, and inconsistent use of body-worn cameras persist.
Positive Findings
The Board found the prison to be generally safe, with levels of violence and open ACCT documents decreasing. Reception works well, and the enhanced gate security pod acts as a deterrent for illicit items. The resettlement clinic and release process were found to be satisfactory, with an improvement in prisoners leaving with suitable arrangements for release. The new head of healthcare has had a positive impact, and the chaplaincy provides a high-quality service. Education lesson content and pass rates are high, and the library offers an excellent service, including Storybook Dads.
Key Concerns
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
As previously reported, much of Featherstone is in a dilapidated state and does not provide the facilities seen in a modern prison. We accept this is an issue which will take some time to resolve but there does not appear to be any plan to accomplish this.
Mental Health
Mental illness is a serious issue within prisons. At Featherstone the only answer appears to be to locate some of these prisoners in isolation in segregation where largely untrained staff attempt to deal with them in a humane way. This is not acceptable and there needs to be a way of speedily transferring these prisoners to more appropriate accommodation which can better cater for their health needs.
Complaints/Property
The prison applications system has been subject to major changes within the year to try to improve it. At the moment it is still questionable whether it is performing adequately and the situation should be examined in this light.
Staffing
Repeated
The culture amongst staff remains problematic in some cases.
Staffing
Staffing and effective use of resources have been a significant issue for Featherstone during the reporting period. Progress in many areas requires that these issues are satisfactorily addressed.
Other
Repeated
Property both within the prison and for incoming prisoners remains a significant issue.
Safety
Repeated
Prisoners arriving with contraband: This has reduced during the reporting year although it remains an issue.
Food/Catering
Food is an issue for prisoners in terms of quality and quantity.
Safety
The Board is concerned that body worn cameras are not sufficiently used within the prison.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staffing was a significant issue throughout the year, particularly impacting healthcare, pharmacy, reception, and the Offender Management Unit (OMU), which also lacked a leader for part of the year. Staff shortages often led to redeployment, delays in property processing, disruptions to medication dispensing, and a backlog of complaints. By the end of the reporting period, staffing levels had improved in healthcare, and the situation in the education department was more stable.
Healthcare
Healthcare experienced a challenging year due to significant staffing difficulties, which led to a reduced service and disruptions to the regime, particularly impacting medication dispensing. A new head of healthcare, who started in May 2022, has had a positive impact, leading to a generally satisfactory service. The dental waiting list remained high due to staffing issues and cancellations from a legionella presence. The Board shares concerns about mentally ill prisoners held in segregation due to a lack of trained staff and timely transfer mechanisms.
Regime & Daily Life
The regime was significantly disrupted during the reporting year, initially due to healthcare staffing shortages affecting attendance at work and education. Later, frequent and severe disruptions were caused by daytime roll calls, leading to cancelled activities for education, work, and OMU appointments. Although the situation had improved by the end of the reporting year, the prison operated without a basic classification due to Covid, which reduced incentives for purposeful activity. Vocational training areas, such as tyre fitting and carpentry, were unused due to staffing problems, though alternative courses were successful.
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 | 9 | 1 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 12 | 1 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives, sanctions | 6 | 1 | |
| Equality | 5 | 2 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 7 | 3 | |
| Food and kitchens | 6 | 0 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 16 | 20 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 10 | 3 | |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 20 | 7 | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 28 | 23 | |
| Property within this establishment | 16 | 15 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 4 | 1 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 26 | 18 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 9 | 10 | |
| Total number of applications | 179 | 107 | |
| Transfers | 16 | 4 |
Recommendations (5)
Ministry of Justice: 1
HMPPS: 1
Governor / Director: 3
2 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
As previously reported, much of Featherstone is in a dilapidated state and does not provide the facilities seen in a modern prison. We accept this is an issue which will take some time to resolve but there does not appear to be any plan to accomplish this.
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 2
Mental illness is a serious issue within prisons. At Featherstone the only answer appears to be to locate some of these prisoners in isolation in segregation where largely untrained staff attempt to deal with them in a humane way. This is not acceptable and there needs to be a way of speedily transferring these prisoners to more appropriate accommodation which can better cater for their health needs.
HMPPS
Mental Health
Recommendation 3
The prison applications system has been subject to major changes within the year to try to improve it. At the moment it is still questionable whether it is performing adequately and the situation should be examined in this light.
Governor / Director
Complaints
Recommendation 4
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The culture amongst staff remains problematic in some cases. We believe this issue is understood by the Governor but continued vigilance is necessary to ensure these issues continue to be addressed.
Governor / Director
Staffing
Recommendation 5
Staffing and effective use of resources have been a significant issue for Featherstone during the reporting period. Progress in many areas requires that these issues are satisfactorily addressed.
Governor / Director
Staffing
Other IMB Reports for Featherstone
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
23 Sep 2025
Unannounced
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.