Prison
Cat C
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Wealstun
IMB Annual Report 2020 · Published 15 October 2020
The reporting year at HMP Wealstun was characterized by three distinct periods: improvements prior to an HMIP inspection, subsequent regime curtailments due to financial pressures, and the COVID-19 lockdown. While the prison generally treated prisoners fairly and humanely and healthcare provision was good, the pervasive availability of drugs significantly impacted safety, leading to violence and self-harm. Staffing shortages caused frequent regime restrictions, limiting purposeful activity, and raised concerns about key worker implementation and PAVA training compliance. The Board highlighted a number of ongoing issues, including inadequate resources for equality and diversity, and challenges in managing IPP prisoners and transfers.
Positive Findings
The Board commends the safer custody team for ensuring vulnerable prisoners are well supported and for improvements made. The kitchen consistently produces a variety of good quality food, catering well for religious diets and festivals, and enabling a prisoner to gain ROTL experience in the farm shop. Stable staffing in the segregation unit during lockdown improved prisoner interaction, and a new governor proactively brought stability and raised morale. Adjudication hearings were generally respectful and engaging. Staff had more time to interact with prisoners during lockdown, and the chaplaincy team gained an experienced managing chaplain. The prison also appreciates the need for timely responses to complaints, and property handling in reception is good. Notably, workshop output increased during lockdown despite fewer prisoners, and the prison benefits from the Jigsaw Charity's family support work, a self-harm support group, a problem support mentor scheme, and the creative Good Vibrations group. The Construction Skills Certificate Scheme has a high success rate.
Key Concerns
Substance Misuse
Repeated
Drugs have been readily available throughout the majority of the reporting year, meaning the prison is not as safe as it should be. This leads to debt, bullying, violence, and self-harm.
Safety
The standard of completion and control of ACCTs documents were a concern in the early part of the year.
Segregation
The effectiveness of segregation management varied greatly throughout the year owing to a lack of stable staffing, leading to prisoners staying on the unit for longer periods.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Too many adjudications were not proceeded with or were dismissed because evidence (e.g., CCTV) or paperwork was not produced or reporting officers were not available.
Equality/Diversity
Repeated
The lack of staffing for equality and diversity meant these areas were not given the priority they deserved (an ongoing issue).
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Regime curtailments were frequent due to staffing shortages and financial pressures, limiting prisoners' time out of their cells and access to work or education.
Safety
Many officers were 'out of ticket' for PAVA (incapacitant spray) or not trained at all, due to refresher training not being prioritized and staffing issues.
Resettlement/Release
The location of IPP and life-sentenced prisoners at Wealstun is questioned, given the lack of access to relevant programmes and ineffective management processes for their progression.
Resettlement/Release
Prisoners face delays in transfers to category D open prison places due to insufficient availability.
Healthcare
Care UK lacks a clear process and timescale for replying to prisoner healthcare complaints, and responses are not chased.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Prisoners' post, including important allocation details, was not collected daily by wing staff, leading to delays.
Resettlement/Release
There is a legacy of OASys assessment backlogs, and assessments are not regularly updated, impacting sentence progression and parole hearings.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Despite reasonable overall staffing levels, financial pressures led to officers being sent on detached duty, causing regime restrictions. There is a concern about staff turnover and a lack of experience, with a significant proportion of officers having less than two years' service, which sometimes leads to reluctance in challenging prisoners. The implementation of the key worker scheme was slow and usage levels were low, with many prisoners unaware of their key worker. Prison Offender Managers (POMs) also had to cover staff shortages elsewhere.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision is generally good, with a well-regarded mental health team that knows its patients. However, the Board noted a lack of a clear process and timescale for Care UK to reply to prisoner complaints, and these responses were not chased. Non-attendance at appointments was high due to a lack of escort staff, and appointment slips were sometimes not delivered promptly, though these issues saw some improvement. Dental waiting times are comparable to community levels, but appointments ceased during lockdown.
Regime & Daily Life
The regime was significantly curtailed due to staffing shortages and financial pressures from November 2019 to March 2020, with prisoners often confined to cells. This led to an unacceptable situation where education and work were drastically reduced. During the COVID-19 lockdown from March 2020, prisoners were locked up for 23.5 hours a day, with only 30 minutes for exercise and showers. While this restricted regime initially saw a reduction in violence and self-harm, the Board expressed concern about the long-term impact once restrictions are lifted.
Recommendations (15)
Ministry of Justice: 2
HMPPS: 4
Governor / Director: 9
1 repeated
Recommendation 1
Ensure that all prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPP) are released and, if recalled, are not automatically an IPP prisoner again (see paragraph 7.3.6).
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 2
Ensure that funding for prisons is sufficient to allow full regimes to be provided to all prisoners, officer training requirements to be met and the prison to be able to support prisoners’ rehabilitation, to enable their successful resettlement.
Ministry of Justice
Staffing
Recommendation 3
Ensure that the requirements are clear about when prisons which were part of a pilot should undertake refresher training afterwards (see paragraph 4.5.7).
HMPPS
Safety
Recommendation 4
Consider whether locating IPP and life-sentenced prisoners at a prison without access to relevant programmes, and with ineffective processes to manage them, is an appropriate way to enable them to progress towards release (see paragraph 7.3.9)
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 5
Provide more category D open prison places, so that transfers are not delayed once a prisoner is recategorised (see paragraph 7.3.3).
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 6
Ensure that as prisons move out of lockdown, any long-term effects on prisoners are identified and plans are in place to address them.
HMPPS
Mental Health
Recommendation 7
Ensure that once approval is given to resume training, refresher training in PAVA and rigid-bar handcuffs is given priority (see paragraph 4.5.6).
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 8
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Ensure that adequate staffing is allocated to equality and diversity (disappointingly, an ongoing issue) (see paragraph 5.4.3).
Governor / Director
Equality
Recommendation 9
Ensure that all relevant paperwork and witnesses are available for all adjudications, especially for those to be heard by the independent adjudicator (see paragraph 5.2.14).
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 10
Ensure that when lockdown restrictions are lifted, key workers are fully in place for all prisoners (see paragraph 5.3.5).
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 11
Ensure that Care UK has a process for replying to prisoner complaints within an agreed timescale (see paragraph 6.1.3).
Governor / Director
Healthcare
Recommendation 12
Ensure that post is collected from the post room daily by the wing staff (see paragraph 7.2.4).
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 13
Ensure that funding is available to reinstate the Resolve offending behaviour programme, given the significant number of prisoners with a history of domestic violence. (see paragraph 7.3.5).
Governor / Director
Resettlement
Recommendation 14
Ensure that the monthly forum for IPP and life-sentenced prisoners with the OMU is reinstated (see paragraph 7.3.9).
Governor / Director
Resettlement
Recommendation 15
Consider reducing the cost of food in the visits hall to the same as that in the staff mess (see paragraph 7.4.3).
Governor / Director
Food
Other IMB Reports for Wealstun
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.