Prison
Cat B, local, remand
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Altcourse
IMB Annual Report 2020 · Published 12 November 2020
HMP Altcourse maintained safety and humane treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, with low levels of self-harm and violence. Staff and prisoner morale remained high due to positive staff attitudes and good communication, despite severe regime restrictions. Key concerns include the challenges of housing an aging prison population, delays in mental health transfers, and persistent issues with prisoner property and food quality.
Positive Findings
The Board judges Altcourse remains a safe prison, with low levels of self-harm and violence, especially during lockdown. Staff and prisoner morale is high, bolstered by positive staff attitudes and effective communication. Improvements include food quality, healthcare provision, a rehabilitative culture, and reduced PS use. The management of violence and self-harm has been effective, with new lessons learned.
Key Concerns
Healthcare
The increasing age profile of prisoners requires more age-appropriate accommodation, enhanced or more specialised healthcare provision, and in some cases end-of-life care and palliative care. The prison developed an excellent older person’s strategy, but this could only be partially implemented owing to finite finance and lack of an overarching national strategy.
Mental Health
Repeated
The inpatient facility has 12 beds, which are used for prisoners with physical and mental health needs. This results in an uneasy mix, as both sets of patients require different approaches and skills. This, together with the length of time taken to transfer mental health patients to secure units, creates an environment which could be detrimental to some patients’ recovery. Altcourse has a second healthcare facility that is not commissioned but could be used as a dedicated mental health unit.
Other
Delays in scheduling Coroner inquests have caused anxiety for staff attending as witnesses and families awaiting closure.
Complaints/Property
Repeated
The most prevalent complaint from prisoners relates to their personal property, much of which is mislaid in the course of inter-prison transfers. This has been a persistent problem nationally, and although it has been the subject of discussion, it appears that little has been done to address this.
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
As mentioned in last year’s report, many men convicted of sexual offences will still be unable to access treatment programmes as a number are considered unfit for transfer to other prisons which run these programmes.
Food/Catering
Repeated
The food provided to prisoners is an area that has concerned the Board for a number of years. Although there have been some improvements, particularly in the latter part of the reporting year, more still needs to be done in terms of consistency in the quality of the food, and the timely maintenance of kitchen equipment.
Complaints/Property
A continuing observation noted on Board rotas during the year has been the unavailability of paper application/complaint forms on the system on accommodation units.
Estate/Conditions
One problem noted was a lack of effective control over food waste from the serveries, which has exacerbated the ongoing rodent problem.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staffing challenges persist due to turnover, exacerbated by 17 staff self-isolating during the pandemic. However, there has been a positive upsurge in nurse applications and successful remote recruitment. Kitchen staffing is at 100% with new appointments improving morale and food quality. Offender management staffing (POMs) saw numbers drop by up to 50% due to the pandemic.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision is generally well-regarded, with the mental health team continuing to operate effectively during the crisis. However, the Board retains concerns regarding the mixed inpatient facility, which houses both physical and mental health patients, and the persistent delays in transferring seriously unwell mental health prisoners to secure units. Staffing has been challenging due to turnover, though recruitment of nurses has seen an upsurge during the pandemic. GP services are now conducted via video-link, and dental services are limited to emergencies.
Regime & Daily Life
The COVID-19 lockdown severely impacted the regime, limiting movement and suspending family visits, workshops, and communal activities. Daily out-of-cell time for exercise was reduced to 30-45 minutes. Despite these restrictions, prisoners' morale has remained unexpectedly good, attributed to strong staff-prisoner relationships, effective communication, and benefits like extra phone credit and in-cell televisions. Education shifted to in-cell workbooks, but a lack of marking and face-to-face contact raised concerns about their effectiveness.
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 | 17 | 25 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 16 | 6 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, IEP, sanctions | 25 | 18 | |
| Equality | 14 | 10 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 32 | 39 | |
| Food and kitchens | 26 | 47 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 59 | 51 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 31 | 34 | |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 63 | 62 | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 29 | 24 | |
| Property within this establishment | 25 | 34 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 16 | 29 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, ROTL, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 71 | 60 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 23 | 16 | |
| Transfers | 29 | 42 |
Recommendations (6)
Ministry of Justice: 3
HMPPS: 2
Governor / Director: 1
4 repeated
Recommendation 1
Altcourse is seeing, as are other prisons, an increase in its age profile. Many older prisoners require more age-appropriate accommodation, enhanced or more specialised healthcare provision, and in some cases end-of-life care and palliative care. The prison developed an excellent older person’s strategy, but this could only be partially implemented owing to finite finance and lack of an overarching national strategy.
Ministry of Justice
Healthcare
Recommendation 2
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The inpatient facility has 12 beds, which are used for prisoners with physical and mental health needs. This results in an uneasy mix, as both sets of patients require different approaches and skills. This, together with the length of time taken to transfer mental health patients to secure units, creates an environment which could be detrimental to some patients’ recovery. Altcourse has a second healthcare facility that is not commissioned but could be used as a dedicated mental health unit.
Ministry of Justice
Mental Health
Recommendation 3
Delays in scheduling Coroner inquests have caused anxiety for staff attending as witnesses and families awaiting closure.
Ministry of Justice
Other
Recommendation 4
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The most prevalent complaint from prisoners relates to their personal property, much of which is mislaid in the course of inter-prison transfers. This has been a persistent problem nationally, and although it has been the subject of discussion, it appears that little has been done to address this.
HMPPS
Complaints
Recommendation 5
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
As mentioned in last year’s report, many men convicted of sexual offences will still be unable to access treatment programmes as a number are considered unfit for transfer to other prisons which run these programmes.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 6
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The food provided to prisoners is an area that has concerned the Board for a number of years. Although there have been some improvements, particularly in the latter part of the reporting year, more still needs to be done in terms of consistency in the quality of the food, and the timely maintenance of kitchen equipment.
Governor / Director
Food
Other IMB Reports for Altcourse
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
7 Jul 2025
Unannounced
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.