Prison
Cat YOI
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Deerbolt
IMB Annual Report 2022 · Published 24 March 2023
HMP/YOI Deerbolt experienced significant challenges during the reporting year, primarily due to staff shortages which severely impacted the provision of purposeful activity and led to extensive lock-up times. Despite these difficulties, the IMB noted improvements in safety and morale towards the end of the period, driven by new management and increased staffing. Healthcare provision remained a strength, but concerns persist regarding regime restrictions, educational quality, and the effectiveness of key worker sessions.
Positive Findings
The IMB commends Deerbolt for its historically good safety record and the significant improvements seen towards the end of the reporting period, driven by new senior management and increased staffing, which has boosted morale and re-established purposeful activity. Staff are praised for their humane treatment of prisoners, particularly the vulnerable and those in segregation, and for their compassionate handling of complex cases. Healthcare provision, including dental care, is consistently high-performing despite staffing pressures, with significant improvements and new initiatives like a sleep clinic. Educational and vocational offerings have been re-established and new courses introduced, with positive engagement in practical skills and popular schemes like Storybook Dads and a fully functional library. Resettlement planning remains of high quality, with staff regularly praised.
Key Concerns
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
lack of purposeful activity at a time when prisoners can still be locked up for up to 22 to 23 hours a day.
Staffing
Repeated
Staff shortages at Deerbolt are undeniably to blame for this process
Regime/Time Out of Cell
the management has faced challenges making this a difficulty. Deerbolt now not only houses more complex prisoners with longer sentences than before, but also those up to the age of 29. With facilities and courses tailored to prisoners between the ages of 18 and 21, this age increase has made it very difficult for the management team to navigate this ever-changing landscape of prisoner needs
Safety
some prisoners who feel under threat, often our monitoring shows that this is because of debts incurred when locked up or because of inter-gang rivalries.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
infrequent level of key worker sessions and the low number of wellbeing checks
Healthcare
Repeated
Historically, staff would have had to show patience in waiting for ‘problem’ prisoners to be transferred out to more suitable establishments. However, this year it has been particularly difficult for staff to organise such transfers. Given population pressures in the north east, a lack of mental health beds and logistical issues, the staff have gone above and beyond to try to facilitate moves when required and when this is too difficult, show patience in developing a relationship with the prisoners in question.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
prisoners are still spending too much time in their cells with little to do.
Education/Purposeful Activity
the service is perhaps focused on quantity of allocation rather than quality of provision. As a result of this, we have big concerns about the success of the prison system’s education contract in providing a rehabilitative culture.
Estate/Conditions
refurbishment of A, D and F wings has been delayed and will not be completed until March 2023. We understand that the costs have also increased significantly. All three wings have been closed rather than being completed one wing at a time.
Estate/Conditions
I wing only had three working showers out of 10. The wing had 53 men in the cells. Most of the communal showers were repaired after we raised the issue with the Governor. These showers are poorly screened from the corridor.
Estate/Conditions
J wing has had up to 16 cells out of use, including the only wheelchair accessible cell in the prison. Some were out of use due to damage caused by prisoners, but most due to water leaks from the ensuite shower facilities, possibly due to poor maintenance.
Estate/Conditions
Laundry – Most of the equipment is old and two machines are out of order. Any breakdowns prove hard to repair.
Food/Catering
Prisoners have raised the quality and portion size of food with IMB members and at wing forums. Most prisoners supplement their food with canteen orders.
Food/Catering
Issues with the catering order continue, leading to late menu changes.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The incentives scheme introduced a three-month good behaviour period to achieve enhanced status, rather than the previous 28 days. This is a challenge for some of the prisoners.
Complaints/Property
absence of complaint forms on the wings. We have observed this ourselves and have noticed the absence of IMB application forms as well.
Other
personal possessions did not always arrive with prisoners where they had been transferred from other establishments.
Substance Misuse
vacancies within Humankind have been high due to long term sickness. While, the prison frequently performs high level work to ascertain prisoner intelligence and structures activity comprehensively to support supply reductions, towards the end of the reporting period, there were still no group work sessions being delivered due to the staffing levels in the drug and alcohol recovery team (DART).
Education/Purposeful Activity
The IMB remains concerned, especially about the perception of how frequently provision is cancelled due to staffing or accommodation issues.
Education/Purposeful Activity
We also remain concerned about access to education and training, particularly for age 25+ prisoners. The vocational training options are limited and have not changed since the prison age range was increased
Estate/Conditions
a range of equipment/wood working machinery is unable to be used due to a lack of appropriate servicing/repair when required.
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
The IMB has long had concerns regarding the lack of dialogue between case managers and prison officers to successfully progress prisoners through their complementing sentence plans.
Resettlement/Release
There are only two accredited programmes in Deerbolt: the Thinking Skills Programme and Kaizen. The Kaizen programme is one-to-one with a long waiting list. Prisoners have expressed concern about not being able to do the Kaizen programme and do not seem to be able to talk to their POMs about how this will be addressed.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Prisoners have raised concerns about the 10-minute limit on telephone calls, especially for those with children.
Resettlement/Release
A large portion of applications from prisoners to the IMB are regarding requests for transfers closer to home.
Staffing
Repeated
The IMB at Deerbolt feels that more support is required for the management team. In our last report, as members of the community who actively compete for staff with businesses such as Deerbolt, we cited that staffing issues were a concern regionally and that, for our businesses to succeed we had to change the pay level for staff wages to be more competitive and to get the right candidates. We feel that though Deerbolt staff have seen slight pay increases, to get the right staff and maintain those who are currently in post, this must be reviewed once more.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staff shortages at Deerbolt have been a significant challenge, undeniably impacting purposeful activity and leading to extended lock-up times. While national recruitment initiatives and the use of staff on detached duty from other establishments have brought some increases, the Board believes radical action and more competitive pay are needed to attract and retain sufficient staff. High vacancy rates due to long-term sickness have also affected teams like the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Team.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision at Deerbolt, covering physical, mental health, and drug/alcohol services, is largely commended for its high level despite ongoing staff sickness and vacancies. The IMB is confident that needs are being met in a timely manner, with dental care showing vast improvements in waiting times. Mental health services have expanded group work and received commendation from the NHS Trust CEO. A good working relationship between healthcare teams and the wider prison is noted as key to this success.
Regime & Daily Life
The regime at Deerbolt has been severely impacted by staff shortages, resulting in prisoners spending up to 22-23 hours a day locked in their cells, with a persistent lack of purposeful activity. This restricted regime has been a key concern throughout the reporting period, contributing to prisoner anxieties and protest incidents. While some structured on-wing activities and evening gym sessions have restarted, the Board notes that the regime is restrictive compared to other adult estates, particularly for older young adults (25-29). The Governor and staff are trying to fill vacancies to return to a full and normal regime.
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 | 0 | — | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 1 | — | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives schemes, sanctions | 2 | — | |
| Equality | 0 | — | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 0 | — | |
| Food and kitchens | 0 | — | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 2 | — | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 3 | — | |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 0 | — | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 1 | — | |
| Property within this establishment | 0 | — | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 7 | — | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 1 | — | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 4 | — | |
| Total number of applications | 24 | — | |
| Transfers | 3 | — |
Recommendations (12)
Other: 1
HMPPS: 6
Governor / Director: 5
7 repeated
Recommendation 1
There are often rumours that Deerbolt is accepting older prisoners and that the prison is ‘closing’. What is the long-term plan for Deerbolt’s youth offender institution status?
Other
(minister)
Regime
Recommendation 2
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
We are members of the local community and we understand that staffing is difficult in all sectors in our region and as per our response last year, we are aware that there are efforts to discuss recruitment. However, we wonder what has been done uniquely to address the staffing levels at Deerbolt?
HMPPS
Staffing
Response
HMPPS say they hold monthly meetings with recruitment bodies locally and the senior management team to ensure local exit interviews are conducted.
Recommendation 3
We understand the challenges for education staff and contractors, however, what is the current success level of the Novus contract and how is it being measured?
HMPPS
Education
Recommendation 4
We would like to know what plans the Prison Service has to reduce recidivism levels at Deerbolt.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 5
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
In our last reporting period, HMPPS stated that we have access to data from the performance hub, but overall what are the current key performance indicators of Deerbolt prison and how is it performing?
HMPPS
Other
Response
HMPPS says we are welcome to receive information from the HMPPS Performance Hub which provides information for comparisons between prisons.
Recommendation 6
The IMB understands and respects the hard work the management team has put in through difficult circumstances and challenges this year. What are the plans for education with an ever-changing cohort?
Governor / Director
Education
Recommendation 7
Who in the prison is directly involved in measuring the effectiveness of Novus?
Governor / Director
Education
Recommendation 8
Repeated
Prev. addressed
Could there be an easier and less time-consuming way of prison staff logging prisoner interactions so that independent groups such as the IMB can be aware of prisoner interactions?
HMPPS
Regime
Response
HMPPS defined the difference between wellbeing checks and key worker sessions regarding the offender management in custody (OMiC) model.
Recommendation 9
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
When transfers are the logical conclusion but other prisons with greater provision are reluctant to facilitate moves, does the Prison Service have powers to be able to force transfers of prisoners to more suitable establishments?
HMPPS
Healthcare
Response
HMPPS says there is an operational escalation model for such prisoners and that they are regularly, and coherently reviewed.
Recommendation 10
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Do you think there is more that could have been achieved this year to reduce prisoner lock-up time?
Governor / Director
Regime
Response
The prison says that there is, of course, more that can be learnt looking back in hindsight, but they are continuing to try their best to ensure that this is not a concern in the future.
Recommendation 11
Repeated
Prev. addressed
Are there things that can be done to use the green space within the prison, particularly on the outer perimeter of the establishment?
Governor / Director
Estate
Response
The Governor and senior management team say they are looking into the potential to bring in initiatives to utilise the facilities within the prison.
Recommendation 12
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
What do you see as the future of key worker sessions and other official logged methods for important prisoner interactions?
Governor / Director
Regime
Response
The senior management team say they are trying their best to adhere to the OMiC model for prisoner interactions but that they can always improve with key worker sessions.
Other IMB Reports for Deerbolt
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
3 Dec 2024
Unannounced
Safety: 2
Respect: 2
Activity: 1
Release: 3
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.