Prison
Cat YOI
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Deerbolt
IMB Annual Report 2020 · Published 19 January 2021
HMP & YOI Deerbolt experienced a significant improvement in atmosphere and performance following staff shortages and a change in management, aided by a reduced operational capacity. The COVID-19 lockdown led to a reduction in violence and improved safety perceptions for vulnerable prisoners, but severely curtailed all rehabilitative and educational activities. Key concerns include the lack of rehabilitation during lockdown, the need for better remote learning, and systemic issues around gang-related transfers and appropriate facilities for segregation reviews.
Positive Findings
The Board noted a significantly improved atmosphere and performance due to new management and a restored staff-to-prisoner ratio. Safety improved post-lockdown, and staff-prisoner relationships remained strong, supported by an established key worker system. Healthcare provision was equivalent to community services, with positive developments in wing-based clinics and mental health service expansion. The prison also made good progress in estate refurbishment, catering, and equality and diversity management. Digital visits via video-link proved highly popular and beneficial for family contact, and vocational training in horticulture and the bicycle workshop was successful.
Key Concerns
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The loss of most rehabilitative interventions during lockdown and the need for planning to devise regimes and activities that both capture the benefits of lockdown (e.g., reduced violence) and restore targeted reoffending reduction activities.
Education/Purposeful Activity
The lack of effort to develop remote learning systems and materials, given the extended suspension of classroom and one-to-one educational interaction.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The need to develop video-link technology for regular use in future for visits and funerals, to build on its demonstrated benefits during lockdown.
Safety
The absence of arrangements to identify gang issues immediately after sentencing to facilitate prisoner dispersion and avoid gang culture impacts on prisons like Deerbolt.
Safety
The need for a national system for transferring vulnerable prisoners at risk due to gang issues or reputation, rather than relying on individual prison 'trades'.
Segregation
Repeated
The repeated request for a larger room for Rule 45 and Rule 49 segregation reviews to ensure safe social distancing for all attendees.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Following a period where staff shortages and sickness threatened prison stability, decisive action, including capacity reduction and officer secondments, restored the staff-to-prisoner ratio. A change in senior management brought renewed energy and improved performance. The key worker system was well-established pre-lockdown, with increased officer hours. However, staff shortages, COVID-19 disruption, and absences due to isolation continued to impact productivity in areas like offender management.
Healthcare
Healthcare services are generally good, comparable to community provision, with a qualified nurse on site seven days a week, though no healthcare beds. Spectrum took over the comprehensive healthcare contract in April 2020. Wing-based clinics improved attendance, and in-possession medication use increased. Dental services are emergency-only with long waits (up to 30 weeks for 60 patients), and ophthalmology is suspended. Mental health services, provided by Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS, expanded to a seven-day model, including a speech therapist, and counselling by Rethink is reducing waiting lists. Drug and alcohol services were curtailed by lockdown.
Regime & Daily Life
Pre-lockdown, the regime was restricted by staffing shortages. During COVID-19 lockdown, prisoners spent up to 22 hours a day in cells, with time out reduced to less than two hours daily, including for essential activities. The regime tried to compensate with in-cell televisions, extra channels, telephone credits, and puzzle packs. However, most rehabilitative activities, including education, craft training, and behaviour courses, were suspended, leading to concerns about long-term negative impacts on prisoners' life prospects and reoffending rates.
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 | 2 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 0 | 4 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives and earned privileges, sanctions | 0 | 0 | |
| Equality | 0 | 5 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 0 | 5 | |
| Food and kitchens | 0 | 3 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 0 | 2 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 0 | 6 | |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 99 | — | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 0 | 10 | |
| Property within this establishment | 0 | 21 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 0 | 1 | |
| Sentence management, including home detention curfew, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 0 | 10 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 0 | 12 | |
| Transfers | 0 | 18 |
Recommendations (6)
Ministry of Justice: 3
HMPPS: 2
Governor / Director: 1
1 repeated
Recommendation 1
The Minister should agree that lessons can be learned from the COVID-19 lockdown, particularly regarding the reduction in violence and loss of rehabilitative interventions. Planning should be undertaken to devise regimes and activities that capture the benefits of lockdown while restoring targeted activities aimed at reducing reoffending.
Ministry of Justice
Regime
Recommendation 2
Effort should be made to develop more remote learning systems and materials, given that restrictions on classroom and one-to-one educational interaction with prisoners may be suspended for many more months.
Ministry of Justice
Education
Recommendation 3
The Minister should agree that the use of video-links for visits and funerals has shown benefits, and that it would be worth trying to develop these techniques with the best of modern technology for regular use in future, albeit not replacing all face-to-face visits, or funeral attendance.
Ministry of Justice
Regime
Recommendation 4
The Prison Service should implement arrangements to identify gang issues immediately after sentencing, so that prisoners can be dispersed in a way that could avoid gang culture having an impact on prisons like Deerbolt.
HMPPS
Safety
Recommendation 5
The Prison Service should organise transfers for vulnerable prisoners needing a fresh start in a new prison on a national basis, rather than relying on ‘trades’ between individual prisons, particularly for those at risk due to gang-related issues or mistakes made.
HMPPS
Safety
Recommendation 6
Repeated
The Governor should give consideration to finding a room in which Rule 45 and Rule 49 segregation reviews can be carried out, which is large enough to be used safely by all who need to be present.
Governor / Director
Segregation
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.