Prison
Cat C
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Oakwood
IMB Annual Report 2020 · Published 7 August 2020
HMP Oakwood maintains good overall safety and humane treatment, with commendations for staff collaboration, peer-led initiatives, and positive reception processes. However, significant concerns persist regarding the quality and quantity of education provision by Novus due to staffing issues, and a lack of national progress on prisoner property transfers. Other key issues include inconsistent use of force implementation, deteriorating cell facilities, and challenges in healthcare provision such as medication transfers and secondary care capacity. The Board will continue to monitor these areas in the next reporting period.
Positive Findings
The Board commends the collaborative approach between SMT and staff, the extensive range of peer-led initiatives, and the SMT's willingness to encourage new ideas. Family support work, the Visitors’ Hub, and the Patient Led Experience of Care UK are highlighted positively. Reception and induction processes are delivered professionally and comprehensively, and the standard of end-of-life care is commended. The CSU is noted as clean, well-maintained, and professionally managed, fostering a supportive environment. Staff-prisoner relationships are generally excellent, and Aramark is praised for its catering services, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic and Ramadan. Improvements have been made in implementing recommendations from external bodies, and there was a 65% reduction in property applications to the Board within the prison. Healthcare staff are also commended for their initiatives promoting health and wellbeing.
Key Concerns
Education/Purposeful Activity
Repeated
The prisoners are yet to receive the quality and quantity of educational provision that they are entitled to from Novus, impacted by significant and challenging staffing issues, including poor staff retention and recruitment and increased sickness levels, leading to non-delivery of new courses.
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
The Board's concerns relating to the management, accountability and transfer of property across the prison estate raised in last year's report have seen little improvement at a national level, with property frequently lost, causing distress and claims.
Safety
A number of matters regarding the prison's drug and alcohol strategy remain unclear, including agreed local protocols with the Police, a Security Department protocol with Probation, representation on the local Criminal Justice Board, improvement of CCTV in Visits, links with local community groups, guidance for staff on evidence preservation, and monitoring of visit interceptions.
Safety
Recommendations made by Instructors relating to the use of force are not being fully implemented.
Estate/Conditions
Shower and toilet facilities in cells are looking tired and are increasingly difficult to keep clean and hygienic, with adequacy of shower curtains and fittings being a concern.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
Staff are not consistently enforcing the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across all houseblocks, and the regular availability of appropriate cleaning materials is lacking, preventing serveries from being maintained to a consistent standard of hygiene and cleanliness.
Healthcare
Health complaints boxes do not always have forms in them and are not easily available or accessible for some prisoners.
Healthcare
New arrivals have complained they have been left without their medication on their first night and sometimes longer because the sending prison did not send medication.
Healthcare
IMB members have observed occasions when officers have not been present to supervise prisoners queuing for medication at the medicine hatches, putting additional pressure on nurses.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The delay in checking telephone numbers before a prisoner is allowed to call his family can often take days and sometimes longer, resulting in families not being informed of the move.
Safety
Duty Director’s reports indicate that body-worn video cameras are not always being used by operational staff.
Healthcare
Agency nurses attending Good Order Reviews in the CSU do not always appear to have the necessary awareness of the complex needs of the prisoner.
Healthcare
Repeated
Follow-up arrangements for PPO recommendations and consultants' advice relating to secondary healthcare referrals are problematic, as the numbers of hospital referrals often outweigh what can be facilitated.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Repeated
The wages paid to prisoners undertaking vocational courses are less than working in Industries, which can make a difference to prisoners when choosing a course.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Repeated
There appears to be a lack of internal evaluation showing the outcomes and benefits of the training provided by Education, partly due to a new reporting system being developed by the Ministry of Justice.
Equality/Diversity
The increase in race-related Discrimination Incident Reporting Forms (DIRFs) is a concern, with 109 submitted in 2019 compared to 63 in 2018.
Mental Health
Time frames can be an issue when referring cases to the secure estate for prisoners experiencing severe mental health problems.
Board Commentary
Staffing
HMP Oakwood has 544 staff across all disciplines, with a current turnover rate of 1.10%. 82 officers were recruited during 2019. The Key Worker Scheme was progressing well prior to COVID-19, with 89% of prisoners having a Key Worker, and staff generally welcome this interaction. However, the new education provider, Novus, experienced poor staff retention, recruitment, and increased sickness levels, detrimentally impacting the quality and quantity of education provision.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision is deemed by the Board to be at least equivalent to, and sometimes better than, community services. The team currently has 42.5 FTE staff with 9.44 vacancies, using 3 to 5 agency staff weekly. Referrals to specialist care often exceed the Care UK target. While healthcare complaints have reduced significantly (12 in Dec 2019 vs 38 in Dec 2018), issues persist with the availability and accessibility of health complaints boxes. Mental health services include 10 Registered Mental Health Nurses/professionals and 9 recovery workers, with an average caseload of 30, but timeframes for referring severe mental health cases to the secure estate can be problematic. New initiatives are being developed to support health and wellbeing.
Regime & Daily Life
The prison’s reception and induction processes are professional and comprehensive, receiving positive feedback from new arrivals. General cleanliness throughout the prison is good, but serveries struggle with hygiene standards, inconsistent PPE enforcement, and equipment issues. The frequent breakdown of washers and dryers, though many have been replaced, remains a challenge. Food quality is good, with Aramark praised for its provision of hot meals and special diets. The CSU maintains an established daily regime, including outdoor gym access and regular visits from Directors and Chaplains.
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 | 22 | 19 | |
| Benefits and Allowances | 14 | 12 | |
| Canteen | 28 | 32 | |
| Chaplaincy/Faith | 1 | 3 | |
| Clothing | 27 | 18 | |
| Dental Care | 17 | 10 | |
| Drugs & Alcohol | 13 | 12 | |
| Education & Library | 26 | 32 | |
| Employment (Prison) | 39 | 36 | |
| Escorts | 6 | 9 | |
| Finance | 58 | 49 | |
| Food | 12 | 13 | |
| Healthcare (General) | 12 | 38 | |
| Mental Health | 5 | 8 | |
| Other | 120 | 126 | |
| Parole/Lifer | 10 | 14 | |
| Perpetrators of abuse | 1 | 2 | |
| P.P.O. | 0 | 0 | |
| Property (Internal) | 20 | 33 | |
| Property (Transfer) | 71 | 78 | |
| Racial Awareness | 2 | 2 | — |
| Religion | 0 | 0 | |
| Security | 14 | 15 | |
| Segregation Unit | 4 | 5 | |
| Sentence Calculations | 19 | 16 | |
| Social Care | 1 | 0 | |
| Staff (including applications against staff) | 16 | 21 | |
| Telephones | 26 | 22 | |
| Total | 700 | 711 | |
| Training (Vocational) | 5 | 7 | |
| Visits | 17 | 15 | |
| Welfare | 6 | 7 | |
| Workshops | 2 | 1 |
Recommendations (8)
Governor / Director: 7
Ministry of Justice: 1
2 repeated
Recommendation 1
The Director should ensure that the recommendations made by Instructors relating to the use of force are fully implemented.
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 2
The Director should consider a request to HMPPS for upgrade of the shower and toilet facilities and an upgrade of the shower curtains and fittings in the cells.
Governor / Director
Estate
Recommendation 3
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Following concerns expressed in last year’s AR, the Director should consider again, how to ensure that staff enforce the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across all houseblocks and ensure the regular availability of appropriate cleaning materials so that the serveries are maintained to a more consistent standard of hygiene and cleanliness.
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 4
The Director and Head of Healthcare should review the positioning of the health complaints boxes to ensure better access to them by prisoners.
Governor / Director
Healthcare
Recommendation 5
At the prison an appropriate system and subsequent follow up should be put in place to ensure that this does not happen.
Governor / Director
Healthcare
Recommendation 6
The Director should ensure that officers are present at the medicine hatches during the dispensing of medication.
Governor / Director
Healthcare
Recommendation 7
The Director should ensure that all instances of missing property are quickly followed up and that the checking of phone numbers is done as soon as possible.
Governor / Director
Resettlement
Recommendation 8
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The Board feels that there should be a national Ministry of Justice directive in relation to the management, accountability and transfer of property across the prison estate.
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Other IMB Reports for Oakwood
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
9 Apr 2024
Unannounced
Safety: 4
Respect: 4
Activity: 4
Release: 3
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.