Prison
Cat C
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Onley
IMB Annual Report 2022 · Published 26 July 2022
HMP Onley, a Category C prison, operated under pandemic restrictions for the reporting year ending March 2022, with an average population of 650. Despite staff shortages and challenges in regime delivery, the prison maintained stability and reported no deaths in custody. Key concerns highlighted include persistent delays in prisoner transfers, insufficient access to offending behaviour programmes, ongoing issues with property management, and a need for improved mental health support and estate maintenance. The Board also noted challenges with food provision and medication access.
Positive Findings
The Board commended the Governor and SMT for their professionalism in implementing Covid-19 mitigation measures and managing the prison calmly despite staff shortages. Enhanced security measures, including improved searching and drone alerts, were welcomed. Improvements were noted in cell bell response times and the removal of razor blades to reduce self-harm. Positive staff-prisoner relationships, the establishment of a drug recovery unit, and plans for education provision development were also highlighted. All education vacancies were filled by January 2022, and the prison gained a new contract with WasteCare.
Key Concerns
Overcrowding
Repeated
Pressing need for increased capacity in Category D (open) prisons, leading to Category D prisoners remaining at Onley.
Staffing
Shortage of officers and probation staff, impacting recruitment and retention due to competitive local salaries, and a need for enhanced payment scheme consideration.
Overcrowding
Delays in moving non-category C prisoners from HMP Onley, specifically C to B re-categorised prisoners often remaining in segregation for significant periods, and C to D re-categorised prisoners waiting too long for open conditions due to lack of accommodation.
Resettlement/Release
Lack of access to offending behaviour programmes, hindering prisoners' ability to reduce reoffending risk, progress, and move to Category D establishments.
Other
Significant problems with prisoner property management, including long delays in receiving property from sending prisons, causing distress and frustration.
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
Poor state of windows in the older parts of the prison, affecting decency standards and requiring urgent attention.
Safety
Delay in the arrival and operationalisation of the Enhanced Gate Security (EGS) bag scanner, awaited since September 2021.
Complaints/Property
Need to integrate healthcare complaints reporting with general prison complaints, ensuring confidentiality, to provide a comprehensive overview of prisoner concerns.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Insufficient workshops and instructors to support HMP Onley's purpose as a training and resettlement prison, requiring more provision.
Safety
Concerns regarding prisoner cell bell response times, with instances exceeding five minutes and occasionally 30 minutes or more on some wings.
Estate/Conditions
Poor cell ventilation, poorly regulated heating, and hot water in pipes causing cells to be unbearably hot and stuffy, especially during summer.
Food/Catering
Complaints about food quality, including mouldy food, small portions, inaccurate meal delivery times, and inappropriate substitute meals; exacerbated by staff shortages in the kitchen and lack of wing cooking facilities.
Mental Health
Prisoners with complex mental health needs being held in the CSU for long periods due to a lack of secure mental health accommodation for transfers.
Equality/Diversity
Disproportionate number of adjudications involving White men compared to their population percentage.
Healthcare
Night medication not received at clinically appropriate times due to restricted dispensing hatch hours and staff shift patterns.
Safety
Repeated
Mirtazapine found in the possession of unprescribed prisoners, highlighting a lack of secure medicine storage facilities, especially in dual occupancy cells.
Mental Health
Absence of a professional counselling service and talking therapies, identified as a need by chaplaincy and MHCT to improve mental health and emotional wellbeing.
Resettlement/Release
Significant waiting lists and backlogs for offending behaviour programmes (TSP, Resolve) and suitability assessments, impacting prisoner progression towards Category D status.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staffing levels at HMP Onley suffered from severe shortages, high attrition, and recruitment difficulties due to competitive local salaries, particularly affecting workshop instructors. Despite this, staff maintained a calm environment, and key worker sessions achieved an 83% completion rate. Efforts are underway to address staffing challenges through initiatives like part-time officer training, which is set to commence in May 2022.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision, managed by Northampton NHS Foundation Trust, showed a commitment to prisoner well-being through data analysis and multi-agency collaboration. While progress was made in reducing dental and optician waiting lists, concerns remain regarding delays in mental health transfers for complex cases due to lack of secure accommodation. Issues with medication dispensing times due to staff shift patterns and the absence of professional counselling services were also noted.
Regime & Daily Life
The prison operated under various restrictive pandemic regimes throughout the year, impacting prisoner movement and time out of cell, though managed efficiently. While efforts were made to provide daily access to showers, exercise, and in-cell activities, many purposeful activities were halted or severely disrupted. The Board expressed concern about the long-term impact of these restrictions on prisoner mental health, wellbeing, and rehabilitation.
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) | 45 | 38 | |
| Adjudications | 24 | 13 | |
| Canteen/clothing | 15 | 15 | — |
| Confidential Access | 16 | 15 | |
| Correspondence | 17 | 21 | |
| Diet/food | 12 | 11 | |
| Discrimination | 6 | 1 | |
| Drugs/alcohol | 5 | 1 | |
| Education/training/work | 13 | 9 | |
| Employment/wages | 7 | 7 | — |
| Equality | 2 | 1 | |
| External appeals/legal | 14 | 16 | |
| Facilities/kit | 12 | 11 | |
| Finance | 17 | 10 | |
| General complaints | 28 | 23 | |
| Healthcare | 44 | 42 | |
| Parole/recall | 14 | 11 | |
| Pay/earnings | 4 | 6 | |
| Property | 170 | 135 | |
| Safety | 13 | 15 | |
| Security | 2 | 2 | — |
| Total | 501 | 449 | |
| Visits/family ties | 11 | 14 | |
| Wellbeing | 4 | 0 |
Recommendations (9)
Ministry of Justice: 2
HMPPS: 5
Governor / Director: 2
2 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
There is a pressing need for increased capacity in Category D (open) prisons, as there were a significant number of ‘cat D’ prisoners at HMP Onley throughout the reporting year.
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 2
The shortage of officers and probation staff needs to be addressed, with serious consideration given to adding HMP Onley to the enhanced payment scheme to improve recruitment and retention in the face of competitive local salaries.
Ministry of Justice
Staffing
Recommendation 3
More prompt action is needed in moving non-category C prisoners from HMP Onley, ensuring re-categorised C to B prisoners are moved within 72 hours and C to D prisoners are moved without undue delay to open conditions.
HMPPS
Overcrowding
Recommendation 4
The lack of access to programmes, which impacts prisoners’ ability to reduce reoffending risk and progress, needs to be addressed.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 5
The management of prisoner property, which remains a significant problem due to long delays in receiving property from sending prisons, should be improved by providing more resources to investigate missing property.
HMPPS
Other
Recommendation 6
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) should advise when essential work on the poor state of windows in the older parts of the prison will be carried out, as it has a detrimental effect on decency standards and needs addressing as a priority.
HMPPS
Estate
Recommendation 7
The Board wishes to be advised when the enhanced gate security (EGS) bag scanner, awaited since September 2021, will arrive on site and be operational.
HMPPS
Safety
Recommendation 8
There would be considerable benefit in finding a way to integrate the reporting of complaints to healthcare with general prison complaints, provided confidentiality is maintained, to provide a more comprehensive overview of prisoner concerns across the establishment.
Governor / Director
Complaints
Recommendation 9
It is vital that the purpose of HMP Onley, as a training and resettlement prison, retains priority, requiring more workshops and instructors to be involved to support successful resettlement.
Governor / Director
Education
Other IMB Reports for Onley
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.