Prison
Cat B local
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Chelmsford
IMB Annual Report 2022 · Published 7 February 2023
HMP Chelmsford, a category B local prison, showed mixed performance in the reporting year ending August 2022. While levels of violence and self-harm decreased, and there were no deaths in custody, significant concerns persist regarding overcrowding (49% of prisoners sharing single cells) and long-standing issues with lost prisoner property. Staff shortages heavily impacted healthcare appointments, purposeful activity, and key worker effectiveness, contributing to many prisoners spending extended periods locked in cells.
Positive Findings
The Board notes a general improvement in safety, with reduced violence, self-harm, and no deaths in custody. Drug supply was reduced, and the prison environment is significantly cleaner and better maintained. Staff-prisoner interactions are generally positive, and the new healthcare manager is engaging well with the IMB. The prison offers good gym facilities, vocational training, and various work opportunities, with the chaplaincy providing extensive support and successfully restarting corporate worship post-Covid.
Key Concerns
Overcrowding
Repeated
Overcrowding is still a major issue: 49% of the prisoners live two to a cell in cells designed for single occupancy.
Other
Repeated
The Board still received a significant number of applications about property, in total more than any other issue – some 21% of the total – and that our concerns voiced over many years have yielded few if any results.
Safety
The actual number of self-harm incidents remained high, with 836 cases (to end July 2022), which was 13% higher than the previous year.
Safety
Violence remains high and the prison had not yet offered as much time out of cell as the pre-Covid-19 era.
Healthcare
Appointments for dentistry, GPs, physiotherapy etc are frequently missed due to a shortage of escorting officers.
Equality/Diversity
The increasing numbers of prisoners who use wheelchairs still face difficulties in accessing certain areas of the prison due to the only lift in healthcare being non-operational for over four months.
Education/Purposeful Activity
There were places for only two-thirds of prisoners to participate in education, skills, and work, and too many were unfilled due to staff shortages and a consequential lack of escorting officers.
Staffing
The Key Worker compliance rate averaged only 3% during the year due to low staffing levels.
Equality/Diversity
A higher percentage of searches are being carried out on Black, Asian and minority ethnic prisoners than is justified by their percentage share of the population of the prison.
Complaints/Property
On average 20% of COMP1s were not answered on time in the months January – July 2022.
Substance Misuse
Whilst the prison has been successful in driving down the availability of illicit drugs, this led to prisoners focusing on hooch.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staff shortages have been a persistent challenge throughout the year, impacting purposeful activity attendance, healthcare escorts, and security checks. High staff/agency turnover further affected service delivery, especially in healthcare. The key worker scheme suffered from a very low compliance rate (3%) due to insufficient staffing, meaning vital roles were often neglected as officers were diverted to other duties.
Healthcare
Healthcare remains the highest topic for IMB applications, with concerns about unaddressed complaints to CRG and difficulties contacting the provider via email. A significant number of appointments for dentistry, GPs, and physiotherapy are missed due to staff shortages and a non-functioning lift has impacted prisoners with mobility issues. High staff turnover within healthcare, including dentistry and nursing, has further affected service delivery.
Regime & Daily Life
The regime continued to be heavily impacted by Covid-19, leading to new arrivals isolating for 14 days and many prisoners spending up to 23 hours a day in shared cells. Overcrowding remains a major issue, with 49% of prisoners sharing single cells. Purposeful activity attendance is poor due to staff shortages, resulting in over 40% of the population being unemployed and locked in cells for up to 22 hours daily, significantly reducing time out of cell compared to pre-Covid levels.
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 | 11 | 5 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 15 | 6 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives schemes, sanctions | 12 | 6 | |
| Equality | 6 | 5 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 7 | 5 | |
| Food and kitchens | 6 | 6 | — |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 34 | 30 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 20 | 17 | |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 16 | 8 | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 17 | 13 | |
| Property within this establishment | 31 | 36 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 17 | 2 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, re-categorisation | 7 | 7 | — |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 21 | 19 | |
| Transfers | 14 | 2 |
Recommendations (10)
Ministry of Justice: 3
HMPPS: 3
Governor / Director: 3
Other: 1
Recommendation 1
To ensure adequate funding for the ongoing improvement of the prison’s buildings and facilities.
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 2
To exert influence to ensure provision of suitable permanent accommodation for prisoners upon release, so that no prisoner ends up on the street.
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 3
To look at simplifying the process of recruiting IMB members. Currently this process is, at best, difficult, at worst, onerous. Too much is being demanded of people applying for a voluntary role and we urge the Minister to support efforts to find a better way.
Ministry of Justice
Other
Recommendation 4
To continue to support the Governor and staff in making the changes and improvements highlighted by the HMIP inspection in August 2021, and those noted by us.
HMPPS
Other
Recommendation 5
We would welcome a decrease in the OpCap and additional staffing during the transitional period to ensure that ‘business as usual’ is not adversely affected by a concentration of effort on improvements.
HMPPS
Overcrowding
Recommendation 6
To make every effort to eliminate overcrowding, which is in conflict with the requirements of decency and respect and is in contravention of the United Nations standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners.
HMPPS
Overcrowding
Recommendation 7
To continue to reduce the levels of violence, self-harm, bullying, drug use and drug smuggling.
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 8
To institute processes to encourage prisoners to attend purposeful activity, so that they get the maximum opportunity to make themselves employable upon release.
Governor / Director
Education
Recommendation 9
To ensure that offender supervisors and key workers are given the time to perform their vital role, rather than being allocated to other duties at a moment’s notice.
Governor / Director
Staffing
Recommendation 10
To look at simplifying the process of recruiting IMB members. Currently this process is, at best, difficult, at worst, onerous. Too much is demanded of people applying for a voluntary role and we urge the Secretariat to discuss with BDOs and make recommendations to the Minister.
Other
(other)
Other
Other IMB Reports for Chelmsford
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
22 Jan 2024
Unannounced
Safety: 2
Respect: 2
Activity: 2
Release: 2
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.