Prison
Cat B
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Garth
IMB Annual Report 2021 · Published 20 May 2022
HMP Garth faced significant challenges during a reporting year dominated by Covid-19 restrictions, which impacted regimes, staffing, and purposeful activity. Despite this, the Board commended staff for maintaining safety, providing good healthcare, and improving education access. Key concerns remain around poor maintenance by contractor Amey, staff recruitment and retention, inadequate food budgets, and critical issues affecting resettlement and the welfare of IPP and elderly prisoners.
Positive Findings
The prison maintained a safer environment due to pandemic restrictions, leading to fewer incidents and good staff support for prisoners. Healthcare staff, particularly those providing in-cell care for Covid cases, were commended for their tireless and effective service. In-cell telephony and 'Purple Visits' video calls significantly benefited family contact during lockdowns. The IMB also noted improvements in education access and commended the catering team for providing good, nutritional meals despite resource constraints.
Key Concerns
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
The consistently poor service and delayed maintenance provided by the contractor Amey, impacting all aspects of prison life for both prisoners and staff.
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
The ongoing problem of the indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) continues. This Board would repeat its comments of previous years, namely to state that it believes that the law should be changed to allow the immediate release of IPP prisoners subject to a shorter licence period that would allow for their supported reintegration into society without the threat of long term recall.
Staffing
Repeated
Staff retention problems throughout HMPPS have increased throughout this period in large part because of the erosion of staff salaries and conditions of service. This matter needs to be urgently addressed and rectified. The recruitment of uniformed staff needs urgent attention, and the retention of new staff is proving to be problematic.
Food/Catering
The food budget needs to be increased as a matter of urgency to ensure consistent provision of good, nutritional meals amidst rising prices.
Overcrowding
Repeated
There is a serious shortage of beds available for prisoners with special needs and for difficult and hard to manage prisoners throughout the prison estate, which all too frequently results in excessively long periods of segregation.
Resettlement/Release
The role and involvement of the outside Probation Service has been seriously limited, with Community Offender Managers (COMs) not allocated until close to release, pre-sentence reports not routinely prepared, and the Offender Assessment System (OASys) diluted.
Equality/Diversity
There is a growing number of older prisoners in need of mobility and other aids, but confusion exists regarding who should provide these aids, impacting budgets and requiring urgent attention.
Board Commentary
Staffing
HMP Garth has actively recruited new staff, resulting in a large number of inexperienced officers. Staff absences due to Covid-19 have created additional pressure. Recruitment and retention issues persist across HMPPS, exacerbated by salary erosion and conditions of service. The key worker scheme is not functioning as intended due to staffing problems, and morale in the Offender Management Unit is reportedly low due to national policies.
Healthcare
Despite a high number of applications concerning healthcare, the Board commends regular healthcare staff for their tireless and effective service, particularly for in-cell Covid care. However, general provision has been patchy due to fewer visiting practitioners. Concerns remain about the delayed refurbishment of gated observation cells, the poor quality of the healthcare waiting area, and clarity on responsibility for providing mobility aids, which is complicated by the prison's aging infrastructure.
Regime & Daily Life
The prison regime was largely dominated and restricted by the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to frequent lockdowns, closures of education, workshops, and visits, and minimal prisoner movement. This significantly reduced violent incidents. While some prisoners appreciated the quiet of in-cell isolation, others missed social interaction. The regime began to open up gradually from October, allowing some access to gym facilities and outdoor exercise, with prisoners improvising equipment during strict lockdowns.
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 | 8 | 2 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 9 | 4 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, IEP, sanctions | 2 | 1 | |
| Equality | 3 | 1 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 9 | 12 | |
| Food and kitchens | 5 | 2 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 32 | 13 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 5 | 2 | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 29 | 17 | |
| Property within this establishment | 42 | 13 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 1 | 2 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 9 | 18 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 72 | 43 | |
| Transfers | 4 | 3 |
Recommendations (13)
Ministry of Justice: 1
HMPPS: 9
Governor / Director: 3
7 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
The Board’s strong recommendation is that the contract with Amey should be investigated and reviewed as poor maintenance of the prison is impacting negatively on all aspects of life at Garth prison for both prisoners and staff.
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 2
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Staff retention problems throughout HMPPS have increased throughout this period in large part because of the erosion of staff salaries and conditions of service. This matter needs to be urgently addressed and rectified.
HMPPS
Staffing
Recommendation 3
The food budget be increased as a matter of urgency.
HMPPS
Food
Recommendation 4
Repeated
Similarly the number of beds available for prisoners with special needs throughout the estate is inadequate and requires increase urgently.
HMPPS
Overcrowding
Recommendation 5
Repeated
Throughout the prison estate there is a serious shortage of beds for difficult and hard to manage prisoners. This all too frequently results in excessively long periods of segregation. This issue needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
HMPPS
Segregation
Recommendation 6
Repeated
The Board continues to be concerned about the length of time some prisoners are held in the segregation unit. The three specialist units in the prison do take some of the most disturbed of these people but it may be more appropriate to move some of them elsewhere. Further work needs to be carried out to improve this process.
HMPPS
Segregation
Recommendation 7
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The recruitment of uniformed staff needs urgent attention: • Each prison and each category of prison has its own needs in terms of staff recruitment and balance. • Each prison should have a say in the recruitment of individual officers in order to address the above requirements. This would be facilitated by face-to-face interviews in the prison. • Each prison should have a say as to the gender balance of recruits. • The retention of new staff is proving to be problematic. If the above issues are addressed it is likely that retention will be improved.
HMPPS
Staffing
Recommendation 8
There is a growing number of older prisoners, many of whom are in need of mobility and other aids. Presently there is confusion about who should provide these aids and this matter needs urgent attention because it impacts increasingly upon budgets.
HMPPS
Equality
Recommendation 9
The Board is very concerned that the role and involvement of the outside Probation Service has been seriously limited in that. • The community offender manager (COM) is not now allocated to a prisoner until (s)he is within sight of release. • Pre-sentence reports are not now routinely prepared for defendants facing custodial sentences. The offender assessment system (OASys) has been seriously diluted pre- and post-sentence and before transfer to category B and other prisons.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 10
It is advised that the prison should be financed to provide sufficient body worn cameras. Their practices should be reviewed and revised.
HMPPS
Safety
Recommendation 11
Restore the effectiveness of the key worker scheme.
Governor / Director
Staffing
Recommendation 12
Maintain a secure and safe environment through the remainder of the Covid pandemic.
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 13
Repeated
Continue to monitor the effectiveness of Amey.
Governor / Director
Estate
Other IMB Reports for Garth
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
29 Jul 2024
Unannounced
Safety: 2
Respect: 2
Activity: 1
Release: 3
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.
Prevention of Future Deaths Reports
Coroner PFD reports issued to this establishment.