Prison
Cat B
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Gartree
IMB Annual Report 2022 · Published 10 May 2023
HMP Gartree experienced an increase in assaults and self-harm incidents during the reporting year, alongside nine deaths in custody. The Board raised significant concerns about the lack of progress on essential infrastructure improvements, the quality and availability of purposeful activity, and delays in mental health transfers. Positive developments included improvements in the complaints system and effective detection of illicit items, but staffing retention and the lack of data to assure healthcare equivalence remain challenges.
Positive Findings
The Board welcomed the extensive work to return Gartree to a normal regime after Covid-19, and acknowledged the support from the Governor and SMT. Positive steps include effective detection of illicit items, a reduction in social isolation, and improved physical environment in reception. Significant improvements were made in the complaints system, and the Board commended the SAPU staff for their professional and compassionate approach. Efforts to de-escalate violent situations and the achievement of employing 500 prisoners were also noted positively.
Key Concerns
Safety
Increase in assaults by prisoners on staff (53, up from 43) and prisoner-on-prisoner assaults (58, up from 39), leading to an overall increase in violent incidents from 82 to 111.
Substance Misuse
Continued influx of drugs and other illegal items, and an increasing number of drone sightings and finds, with security initiatives for scanning all persons entering the establishment remaining incomplete.
Safety
Debt and violence persist, with some prisoners reporting feeling victimised or vulnerable to attack, leading to self-isolation and/or self-harm.
Safety
Increase in recorded incidents of self-harm from 223 in 2021 to 242 in 2022, with a particular increase in self-harm by ligature/hanging.
Safety
Nine deaths in custody, with previous recommendations made by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) regarding end-of-life care and escorts to hospital being repeated.
Mental Health
Concern about prisoners housed in the Separation and Progression Unit (SAPU) for extended periods, and increased difficulty in moving prisoners awaiting transfer to secure mental health units.
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
Non-existent progress on improvements to the fabric and infrastructure of the prison, particularly to showers in wings A and C, despite Ministerial commitments and funding bids.
Healthcare
Repeated
Lack of factual data/information to evidence that services and treatment being provided by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) are equivalent to those in the wider community, preventing the Board from expressing a view on prisoners' health and wellbeing.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Concern about the amount and quality of purposeful activity, wider training, and employment opportunities truly available to prisoners.
Resettlement/Release
Slow movement of prisoners to Category C and Category D prisons, a virtual moratorium on progression for these individuals, and a lack of offending behaviour programmes unless prisoners are near their release date.
Resettlement/Release
Little significant national progress being made for prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs), particularly for the 25 complex cohort IPP prisoners at Gartree.
Staffing
Ongoing loss of experienced officers, challenges in staff recruitment and retention, and slow progress in implementing the key worker scheme.
Resettlement/Release
Assessments and sentence plans for all prisoners are not consistently up to date, and new prisoners do not always arrive with necessary updated paperwork.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Gartree continues to experience an ongoing loss of experienced officers, leading to challenges in staff dispersal and confidence for newer staff. Staff turnover is an issue, with transfers, pay, and promotion being key contributors, though recent pay rises have helped. The key worker scheme, part of OMiC, has progressed, but at a slower rate than desired. The Board noted the need for attraction, recruitment, and retention plans, particularly due to new private sector prisons opening nearby.
Healthcare
The Board noted that it could not express a view on the health and wellbeing of prisoners in relation to NHS commissioned services. This is due to a persistent lack of factual data and information from Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) to evidence that services and treatment are equivalent to those in the wider community, despite repeated requests. A specific concern was the increased difficulty and delay in transferring prisoners with complex mental health conditions from the SAPU to secure mental health units, posing challenges for staff and other prisoners.
Regime & Daily Life
The prison returned to a normal regime in April 2022 after Covid-19 restrictions, which previously led to prisoners spending extensive periods in their cells. Despite this, there is ongoing concern about the limited amount and quality of purposeful activity, training, and employment opportunities. Efforts are being made to offer in-cell education, employment, and additional exercise to self-isolating prisoners, with plans for them to access workshops. The opening up of the regime is believed to have contributed to a 30% increase in official complaints.
Recommendations (12)
Ministry of Justice: 4
HMPPS: 5
NHS / Healthcare Provider: 1
Governor / Director: 2
5 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Will the Minister confirm again that the funding bid received by Gartree to address the unacceptable state of the showers will remain available to the establishment, as work has still not commenced?
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 2
Repeated
Could the Minister confirm again that investment to address the seriously deteriorating infrastructure of Gartree will continue, regardless of any options under consideration for a new prison to be built within the locality, and that Gartree will not suffer in any way should a new prison be built?
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 3
Repeated
Does the Minister believe that sufficient work has been undertaken in the past 12 months so that the whole of Gartree will no longer be described as ‘dark, dingy and in need of repair’ (report on a scrutiny visit to HMP Gartree by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, 22 and 29-30 September 2020). Similar words were used by representatives of the MoJ to describe Gartree during the Gartree Prison Appeal Inquiry Planning appeal: Land to the South of HMP Gartree held during October 2022.
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 4
Therefore, can the Minister confirm to the Board that all services being provided to Gartree by outside organisations (e.g. healthcare, maintenance and education) are achieving all quality and performance targets for the services they have been commissioned to provide?
Ministry of Justice
Other
Recommendation 5
Can the Prison Service confirm what additional support Gartree will receive to increase the number of offending behaviour programmes in order to enable prisoners to complete courses required to assist in their progression?
HMPPS
Purposeful Activity
Recommendation 6
What additional support will be offered to Gartree to ensure that assessments and sentence plans for all prisoners are up to date, and what actions is the Prison Service taking to ensure that when new prisoners are received at Gartree they arrive with the necessary up to date assessment/paperwork?
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 7
Repeated
Can the Prison Service confirm again that Gartree will receive sufficient ongoing budget and capital funding in order both that prisoners can live, and staff can work, within a safe, secure, and decent environment? The Board continues to note that other prisons have received substantial investment to improve their infrastructure. Could the Prison Service explain to the Board why Gartree has not received this level of investment?
HMPPS
Estate
Recommendation 8
Can the Prison Service confirm what are the attraction, recruitment, and retention plan for prison officers to ensure that staffing levels at Gartree do not suffer because of the new private sector prisons due to open in close proximity to Gartree, which may appear to offer more attractive employment?
HMPPS
Staffing
Recommendation 9
Can the Prison Service confirm to the Board that the new property framework for prisoners’ property is meeting the objective(s) of the new framework, or share any data that is available to show that improvements have been made and the new framework is on target to achieve its objectives?
HMPPS
Other
Recommendation 10
Therefore, can the Prison Service confirm to the Board that the integrated health services at Gartree are achieving the outcomes expressed in various commissioning documents, and that the healthcare is equivalent to the local wider community (i.e. the Market Harborough district)?
NHS / Healthcare Provider
Healthcare
Recommendation 11
Will the Governor work with the education department to reduce the frequency of prisoners leaving their classrooms to partake in other activities such as the gym?
Governor / Director
Education
Recommendation 12
Repeated
Will the Governor continue to work with the Board to improve communication with the Board and in relation to the necessary notifications to the Board in order for the Board to carry out its duties?
Governor / Director
Other
Other IMB Reports for Gartree
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
16 Jan 2023
Unannounced
Safety: 3
Respect: 3
Activity: 2
Release: 3
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.