Prison
Cat Category C, Remand, Reception, Resettlement, Train
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Berwyn
IMB Annual Report 2022 · Published 5 September 2022
HMP Berwyn continues to be a safe establishment, though it faces significant challenges from staffing shortages, which impact regime delivery, purposeful activity, and key work. The Board notes improvements in resettlement outcomes and a reduction in serious assaults, alongside robust use of force data collection. Key concerns remain the long waiting times for dental care and mental health transfers, as well as the poor timeliness in responding to prisoner complaints.
Positive Findings
The Board considers HMP Berwyn a safe establishment with generally courteous staff-prisoner relationships and good quality accommodation. Healthcare provision is comparable to the community, and the new resettlement hub and related initiatives have shown positive results in reducing homelessness upon release and increasing employment. Improvements in staff recruitment, reduced serious assaults, robust use of force data collection, and a decrease in drug throwovers are also positive. The CSU is particularly well-run with empathetic staff.
Key Concerns
Staffing
Lack of sufficient staff, which is the biggest destabilising factor in the prison.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Staffing shortages regularly impact the establishment, causing restricted regimes and impacting upon important initiatives such as key work.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Workshops were not fully operational in this reporting period.
Equality/Diversity
The prison population is aging, and there is a need for training for staff on recognising and dealing with dementia and other age-related needs.
Healthcare
Wait times for dental care are operating at 12 months.
Mental Health
There are long waiting times for transfer to secure mental health facilities due to a lack of beds in receiving establishments.
Complaints/Property
Only 46% of all complaints in 2021 received responses within the nationally prescribed target time.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Reduced operational capacity for transfers to other prisons continues to be an area of concern, impacted by Covid-19 related reductions in operational staffing.
Board Commentary
Staffing
HMP Berwyn faces significant staffing challenges, with 17% vacancies for band 3 officers and 31% for probation officers. Staffing shortages lead to restricted regimes and impact key work. While additional officers have been recruited, many are inexperienced, leading to some prisoners perceiving a lack of respect. The prison is addressing this through a new recruitment pilot and funding for a coaching team to upskill staff and improve key worker allocation.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision at HMP Berwyn is generally good compared to community services, with a decent patient-to-professional ratio. However, waiting times for dental care are exceptionally long at 12 months, and there are significant delays in mental health transfers due to a lack of beds. A medicine optimisation programme on arrival and the associated withdrawal of medication cause many prisoner complaints. While additional healthcare staff have been recruited, there is a recognized need for more staff training in mental health and age-related conditions.
Regime & Daily Life
The regime at HMP Berwyn was significantly impacted by Covid-19 restrictions and ongoing staffing shortages, leading to restricted purposeful activity and reduced time out of cell. Education, workshops, and gym access were curtailed for much of the year, though improvements were seen towards the end of the reporting period with resumption of activities. The prison aims to provide all prisoners with minimum part-time activity allocation by July 2022.
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 | 54 | 40 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 6 | 11 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, IEP, sanctions | 28 | 37 | |
| Equality | 10 | 11 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 19 | 16 | |
| Food and kitchens | 5 | 13 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 110 | 135 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 48 | 72 | |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 97 | 98 | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 28 | 9 | |
| Property within this establishment | 60 | 40 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 22 | 34 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 96 | 81 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 72 | 86 | |
| Transfers | 34 | 22 |
Recommendations (4)
Other: 1
HMPPS: 2
Governor / Director: 1
Recommendation 1
The Board is concerned at the lack of sufficient staff, which is the biggest destabilising factor in the prison. We hope to see increased funding to help recruit and retain frontline operational staff.
Other
(minister)
Staffing
Recommendation 2
The Board is concerned that the establishment is regularly impacted by staffing shortages, causing restricted regimes and impacting upon important initiatives such as key work.
HMPPS
Staffing
Recommendation 3
The Board is concerned that workshops were not fully operational in this reporting period.
HMPPS
Purposeful Activity
Recommendation 4
As the prison population ages, the Board would like to see training for staff on recognising and dealing with dementia and other age-related needs.
Governor / Director
Staff Training
Other IMB Reports for Berwyn
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
27 Jan 2025
Unannounced
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.