Prison
Cat reception
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Birmingham
IMB Annual Report 2022 · Published 2 November 2022
HMP Birmingham shows sustained improvements in its culture and positive trends in safety, including reduced self-harm and segregation stays. However, severe staff shortages significantly hinder regime delivery and key worker sessions, contributing to high use of force incidents. Key challenges include lengthy remand detentions, the indefinite holding of foreign nationals post-sentence, and persistent issues with missing property.
Positive Findings
HMP Birmingham has demonstrated sustained improvements in its ethos, culture, and facilities, along with positive trends in reduced self-harm incidents and shorter segregation stays. The Board commends the innovative pre-release team, effective multi-agency resettlement work, and the success of the peer-led 'Inside Job' initiative. Healthcare access is comparable to the community, with strong mental health provision and proactive chaplaincy support. Significant progress has also been made in addressing neurodiversity needs and in the re-establishment of education delivery.
Key Concerns
Other
The backlog in court hearings is resulting in lengthy remand stays in prison for men who are not convicted. There are, at the time of writing, 34 men held on remand for lengthy periods, most of them for up to two years, six having been detained in 2019 and the longest being on remand for three years.
Equality/Diversity
The Board notes that certain foreign nationals continue to be held in prison under immigration powers after completion of their sentence.
Staffing
Repeated
Staff shortages, either through illness, often Covid-related, or through a consistent and relentless rate of attrition, have exacerbated the challenges of recovery. The prison has prioritised staffing the wings and running the regime but this has involved reduced staffing in other areas and redeployment around the site. In the last 12 months, 60 officers have left.
Other
Repeated
Missing property is a year-on-year, seemingly never-ending problem. The failure to resolve the problem is a continuing source of frustration and constitutes unfair treatment.
Safety
Repeated
The use of body-worn video cameras (BWCs) continues to be inconsistent, as in the last report. This undermines confidence in the system and results in a lack of evidence in some incidents.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
In reality, most prisoners are still gaining no more than one and a half hours each day out of cell, because 80% of the population is on remand and as such cannot be required to engage with purposeful activity.
Estate/Conditions
The Board does not consider cell sharing to be appropriate accommodation, all the more so given that cells, where men eat their meals, contain a shared toilet with minimal screening. This represents a lack of personal dignity and respect.
Substance Misuse
Prescription medication is an illicitly tradeable item within the prison. At least half the prison population visit the medications hatch at least once a day and many of these even two or three times a day. This is a major issue for the prison.
Safety
Repeated
As with the previous reporting year, the levels of spontaneous use of force (UoF) incidents have remained high and are high relative to comparator prisons.
Equality/Diversity
Asian and mixed-race men were disproportionately represented on the basic level of the incentives scheme at the end of the reporting year.
Substance Misuse
Repeated
It is concerning that despite the significant finds of drugs and hooch there are relatively few reports of officers finding men under the influence of either substance. The low number of MIRs is raised repeatedly and yet it seems, given the number of items found, that too much activity related to illicit items goes undetected or possibly, at worst, unreported.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staff shortages, driven by illness (often Covid-related) and high attrition rates (60 officers left in 12 months), significantly impacted HMP Birmingham. This led to redeployment, reduced staffing in some areas, and contributed to regime changes and increased use of force incidents. Despite recruitment efforts, staffing levels remain a key challenge, hindering the delivery of key worker sessions and affecting overall stability.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision at HMP Birmingham is generally good, with access to medical treatment comparable to the community, though demand is high. Mental health care is strong with dedicated psychologists and CPNs, but staff are often under pressure. GP waiting times average 10 days, while dental waits are significantly longer at 118 days due to Covid restrictions. Concerns persist regarding the efficiency of record-keeping and the issue of prescription medication being illicitly traded within the prison.
Regime & Daily Life
The post-Covid "50/50 regime" is more restrictive than before, with most prisoners getting only 1.5 hours out of cell daily, largely due to the high remand population not being required to engage in purposeful activity. While the quality of purposeful activity has improved, staffing shortages frequently interrupt weekend delivery and cause frustration. Self-isolating prisoners and those on the detox wing expressed a desire for greater access to education, activities, and gym time to combat inactivity.
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 transfers) | 121 | 104 | |
| Canteen | 72 | 49 | |
| Education/work | 3 | 1 | |
| Family contact | 6 | 9 | |
| Healthcare/mental health | 21 | 37 | |
| Other | 107 | 89 | |
| Property | 274 | 276 | |
| Regime | 11 | 10 | |
| Release/resettlement | 13 | 7 | |
| Total | 628 | 582 |
Recommendations (8)
Ministry of Justice: 4
HMPPS: 4
1 repeated
Recommendation 1
What will the minister do to reduce the backlog in court hearings and so reduce the time that men are held in prison without being convicted or found not guilty and released?
Ministry of Justice
Other
Recommendation 2
Will the minister publish the annual statistics of the number of detained foreign nationals held in prison beyond their sentence expiry date?
Ministry of Justice
Equality
Recommendation 3
Will the minister publish the annual statistics for the average length of time that foreign nationals are held in prison beyond their sentence expiry date?
Ministry of Justice
Equality
Recommendation 4
Does the minister accept that imprisonment beyond the completion of a sentence is inhumane?
Ministry of Justice
Respect
Recommendation 5
In what ways can the prison service motivate or incentivise men on remand into meaningful activities to avoid prolonged periods of inactivity which seem counterproductive to the rehabilitative culture?
HMPPS
Purposeful Activity
Recommendation 6
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
What will the prison service do to finally resolve the matter?
HMPPS
Other
Recommendation 7
Will the prison service employ or contract to a single dedicated baggage transferring company so that parcels can be more easily tracked and located?
HMPPS
Other
Recommendation 8
Will the prison service increase the rate of pay to prisoners for work?
HMPPS
Respect
Other IMB Reports for Birmingham
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
6 Oct 2025
Unannounced
30 Jan 2023
Unannounced
Safety: 3
Respect: 3
Activity: 1
Release: 2
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.