Prison
Cat Category B Lifer Main Centre training prison
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Swaleside
IMB Annual Report 2020 · Published 5 August 2020
HMP Swaleside reported a year of significant progress in safety and a generally improved environment, despite the challenges of COVID-19. However, the Board highlighted persistent concerns including unacceptably high violence, poor performance of maintenance provider GFSL, and severely limited opportunities for purposeful activity and vocational training for residents. Issues with hygiene, contraband, and cancelled healthcare appointments also remain key areas for development.
Positive Findings
The Board highlights the commitment of prison officers and governors in safeguarding vulnerable residents, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak. The general state of the prison is seen as much better than a year ago, with positive trends across indicators, including a decline in violence measures. The Dedicated Search Team, Community Hub, Swaleside Outreach Services (SOS), and life-limiting illness meetings are commended for their positive contributions. Significant progress has been made towards a safe prison, with high attainment in the keyworker scheme prior to suspension, and successful reintegration initiatives in the CSRU. The introduction of feral cats has partially addressed the rodent problem, and the education department is praised for expanding external education courses.
Key Concerns
Safety
There is still a level of violence, which places Swaleside at the head of its comparator group, so no-one should become complacent as this level of violence is still unacceptable.
Estate/Conditions
It has become increasingly apparent that a number of concerns from residents stem directly from the poor performance of GFSL in executing their tasks in terms of poor condition, maintenance or routine repairs.
Food/Catering
Repeated
The Board still deems it essential that the requirement to support HMP Standford Hill residents is removed from Swaleside. The Board reiterates this year that the kitchen at Swaleside was originally designed to cater for about 650 residents, and was upgraded in its early years to allow for some expansion. However, a further problem arises in having to cater additionally for residents at HMP Standford Hill, bringing the total number of meals prepared to around 3000 daily. The Board have recommended that this added work should be removed from Swaleside, which we repeat.
Education/Purposeful Activity
As with many other facilities within the prison, workshop sizes were designed to cater for around half of the current operational capacity. This fact, together with the lack of current work in some shops, low allocation numbers and low attendance numbers, means that too many residents do not have meaningful employment, and therefore remain unoccupied and inadequately prepared for release. This is not reflective of a training prison.
Equality/Diversity
The amount of vocational training is woeful, particularly for men convicted of sexual offences (MCOSO) and vulnerable residents, which makes one cynical about the definition of ‘Category B Trainer’.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
It is of concern that, despite the apparent unemployment around the prison population, there is an almost daily failure to meet the required allocation to workshops and education. It seems to the Board that there is a failure to apply the discipline necessary to ensure that residents are required to engage in employment or education for their own benefit
Equality/Diversity
The lack of meaningful and rewarding work, generally, and in particular for B and H wing residents shows a real level of inequality.
Estate/Conditions
Hygiene/cleanliness around the prison leaves a lot to be desired. The showers on some wings remain well below sanitary standards, as do serveries and self-cook areas. Wing window cages are filling up with litter and the areas around the outside of some wings are regularly smothered with rubbish thrown from windows – as this includes a lot of waste food products, it only helps to worsen the rat problem.
Safety
The apparent easy acquisition of mobile phones and weapons by some residents, not only increases violence and causes problems for others, but may also exacerbate debt problems and cause self-harm and suicide attempts, and is also the root cause of residents electing to stay behind their doors.
Resettlement/Release
Importantly, residents have not always been able to be transferred to their local resettlement prison within about 12 weeks of their release date as intended.
Safety
One aspect that has been detrimental to the safe running of the prison has been the number of adjudications not proceeded with. At one point (in February 2020) this reached 44% of all adjudications in the rolling year, as opposed to a national average of 4%.
Healthcare
There is an unacceptable number of cancelled outside hospital appointments which, apart from the distress that it causes patients, places a burden on the public purse and wastes NHS time which could usefully be used for other patients.
Healthcare
The lack of in-cell telephony in the inpatients department (IPD) and in some cells in the CSRU needs to be addressed.
Resettlement/Release
Nevertheless, those directly released deserve to have the appropriate help to achieve similar employment and accommodation opportunities afforded to those residents released from resettlement prisons. This does not happen.
Board Commentary
Staffing
At the start of the reporting period, the prison was fully staffed, but COVID-19 led to a dramatic change, with approximately 100 staff shortages initially. Numbers fluctuated but were well-organised. The OMiC keyworker scheme reached almost 70% coverage before its suspension due to the pandemic but has since restarted. While the prison fell 30 staff short at one point during the year, it is now fully staffed, and Payment Plus helped ameliorate COVID-19's impact, leading to an all-time low in staff sickness levels. Complaints to the IMB regarding staff were down year-on-year.
Healthcare
The healthcare contract was tendered but resolution was delayed by COVID-19. The Board is satisfied with adequate provision, and management/staff handled the COVID-19 and TB outbreaks professionally. However, a major concern remains the high number of cancelled NHS appointments due to lack of escorts (1392 out of 2102 this year), placing a significant burden on the NHS. In-cell telephony issues persist in the IPD, disadvantaging residents. Innovations like telephone consultations and telemedicine are being explored for post-COVID-19 use to reduce escort demand. The Life Limiting Illnesses Group provides excellent care and planning for end-of-life residents.
Regime & Daily Life
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the regime, leading to longer lock-up in single cells, which many residents welcomed due to safety concerns. Other positive changes included extra telephone credits, in-cell education packs, and direct consultation with residents. Despite unemployment, there is an almost daily failure to meet allocation targets for workshops and education, suggesting a lack of discipline in engaging residents in purposeful activity. Workshops are inadequately sized for the current population, leading to insufficient meaningful employment and vocational training opportunities, particularly for vulnerable groups.
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 | |
| Board Applications (these are Applications from the Board to the Governor on behalf of residents or on a general issue) | 15 | 18 | |
| Discipline (including adjudication & IEP) | 16 | 13 | |
| Food (including catering & special diets) | 26 | 28 | |
| Health (including dental, optical & mental health) | 68 | 91 | |
| Immigration/Deportation | 0 | 0 | |
| Other | 75 | 56 | |
| Property | 77 | 102 | |
| Regime (including showers, visits, work, education, recreation) | 49 | 90 | |
| Staff | 83 | 108 | |
| Total (all applications) | 454 | 544 | |
| Total Applications | 439 | 526 |
Recommendations (12)
Ministry of Justice: 3
HMPPS: 5
Governor / Director: 4
6 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
We believe that the effectiveness of GFSL should be examined, as its inefficiency affects so many aspects of prison life (see sections 3 and 5.1).
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 2
Repeated
The state of Swaleside showers has been mentioned in several previous reports. There has been some progress in this area but still some wings have shower areas that are way below standard and have not been improved at all. The overall level of cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired with litter around the outside of many wings and the state of some of the serveries and self-cook areas often appalling. The rat problem, though partly addressed with the feral cats is still an issue. Replacement windows are essential if the prison is to prevent littering, improve hygiene and curb the rat problem. However, it needs the budget to be able to do these things (see sections 3 and 5.1).
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 3
Repeated
The Board reiterates this year that the kitchen at Swaleside was originally designed to cater for about 650 residents, and was upgraded in its early years to allow for some expansion. However, a further problem arises in having to cater additionally for residents at HMP Standford Hill, bringing the total number of meals prepared to around 3000 daily. The Board have recommended that this added work should be removed from Swaleside, which we repeat. We are advised that this will not happen due to prohibitive cost. The Board must again point out that, given the pressure on equipment, more failures should be expected and, given the time taken for repairs/replacements to be obtained, these could ultimately become critical (see section 5.1).
Ministry of Justice
Food
Response
We are advised that this will not happen due to prohibitive cost.
Recommendation 4
Repeated
The lack of equal opportunity for MCOSO and vulnerable residents needs to be addressed (see sections 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 5.4 and 7.2).
HMPPS
Equality
Recommendation 5
Repeated
Workshops at Swaleside were originally designed to support a prison with four wings. Swaleside now has eight wings with an operational capacity of 1111. This results in an unacceptably high level of unemployment and continued lack of vocational training, which should be remedied by creating more meaningful work for residents (see sections 3 and 7.2).
HMPPS
Education
Recommendation 6
The lack of in-cell telephony in the inpatients department (IPD) and in some cells in the CSRU needs to be addressed (see sections 6.1 and 7.4).
HMPPS
Healthcare
Recommendation 7
There is an unacceptable number of cancelled outside hospital appointments which, apart from the distress that it causes patients, places a burden on the public purse and wastes NHS time which could usefully be used for other patients (see section 6.1).
HMPPS
Healthcare
Recommendation 8
Repeated
In our report last year, we mentioned that it is essential that residents are provided with resettlement services, preferably in a prison nearer to their home as they reach the end of their sentences. This service has not been provided from Swaleside. Though there were only 17 residents released from the prison in the last year, none of them were found employment and several had no accommodation (see sections 2, 7.3 and 7.5).
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 9
The efforts to improve the appearance of the prison and cleanliness have been considerable, but some of the results have been disappointing. Efforts must continue in order to remedy this issue (see sections 5.1 and 6.1).
Governor / Director
Estate
Recommendation 10
The efforts to prevent the ingress of weapons, phones and drugs are well appreciated and must continue unabated in order to improve this problem. The continued ingress of mobile phones is particularly worrying as a major route through visits has been cut off during the COVID-19 lock-down (see section 4).
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 11
Attendance at both workshops and education regularly falls short of expectations. This needs to receive more attention (see sections 7.1 and 7.2).
Governor / Director
Education
Recommendation 12
The efforts to provide reintegration services to residents in the CSRU are to be commended and improvement has been made in reducing the numbers of residents moved to the CSRU. This trend should continue (see section 5.2).
Governor / Director
Segregation
Other IMB Reports for Swaleside
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
15 Dec 2025
Urgent Notification
11 Sep 2023
Announced
Safety: 2
Respect: 2
Activity: 2
Release: 2
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.