Prison
Cat Category C male resettlement prison, YOI
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Moorland
IMB Annual Report 2020 · Published 4 August 2020
HMP/YOI Moorland, a Category C male resettlement prison, has reported significant improvements in safety metrics, including reductions in violence, self-harm, and drug use during the March 2019 – February 2020 reporting period. The Board noted positive developments in staff-prisoner relationships and the IEP system. However, national shortages in secure mental health beds, limited offending behaviour programmes, and a persistent lack of suitable accommodation for released prisoners remain key concerns.
Positive Findings
The Board welcomes the significant reductions in violence towards staff (59%), prisoner-on-prisoner violence (33%), and self-harm incidents (37%) during the reporting year. Levels of ACCT document openings also decreased by 17%. The prison environment is generally reported as calm and ordered, with a notable reduction in the use of new psychoactive substances. The Board commends improvements in the IEP system, which is now applied more transparently, and notes that staff-prisoner relationships have considerably improved. Healthcare provision is largely equitable with the community, and dedicated key workers offer valuable individual support.
Key Concerns
Mental Health
Repeated
National shortage of secure psychiatric beds leading to delays in mental health transfers.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Repeated
Limited availability of offending behaviour programmes, especially for men convicted of sexual offences (MCOSOs).
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
Finding suitable accommodation for prisoners on release remains a problem due to a worrying shortfall in the community.
Staffing
Key worker sessions are being curtailed due to reductions in staff availability.
Safety
Repeated
The principle of ‘virtual’ segregation transfers may result in challenging prisoners being moved without their complex issues being effectively addressed.
Other
Repeated
Property loss (within and between establishments) continues to be the greatest category of Board applications.
Food/Catering
The national daily budgetary allowance for food, at £2.02, has remained unchanged since 2010 and appears low.
Board Commentary
Staffing
The prison faces challenges with a high proportion of inexperienced officers, with about a third having less than one year's experience at the time of the HMIP inspection. The withdrawal of 10 Prisons Project funding led to staff being placed on detached duties, causing strain on local services. This notably impacted the successful key worker scheme, which became one of the first casualties of staff reductions. Staff recruitment for offending behaviour programmes is underway but requires specialist training, and OMU still has some probation staff vacancies. Despite this, segregation unit staff were commended as Team of the Year for promoting procedural justice.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision in HMP/YOI Moorland is generally equivalent to community standards. However, a significant national concern exists regarding the provision for prisoners needing mental health treatment and secure psychiatric transfers, with delays being commonplace. Care UK is commended for establishing clear protocols to escalate these delays, which arise from a national shortage of secure psychiatric beds. Social care provision is well-managed through a partnership with Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, and plans are in place to develop a 10-bedded intermediate care unit.
Regime & Daily Life
The prison has seen an overall calmer atmosphere, with reductions in violence and drug use attributed to new procedures and the success of the reintegration unit. The IEP system has been reviewed for greater transparency and fairness, moving from a punitive focus to reinforcing positive behaviour. Education maintains a stable regime with over 83% attendance, and work attendance averages 90%. However, there are instances of boredom and a lack of purposeful activity in some workshops due to irregular material availability, and prisoners in segregation spend most days in their cells.
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) | 21 | 16 | |
| Complaints system | 11 | 23 | |
| Equality/diversity | 20 | 0 | |
| Food | 5 | 8 | |
| Health related | 65 | 51 | |
| Other | 22 | 20 | |
| Property | 76 | 79 | |
| Regime (including visits, purposeful activity) | 39 | 31 | |
| Security (including categorisation) | 16 | 9 | |
| Segregation | 21 | 12 | |
| Sentence related | 8 | 15 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns | 46 | 42 | |
| Total Applications | 350 | 306 |
Recommendations (6)
Ministry of Justice: 2
HMPPS: 2
Governor / Director: 2
3 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
As, by definition, any prisoner needing hospital care requires a secure facility, we suggest that the minister should ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to address the national shortage of secure psychiatric beds.
Ministry of Justice
Mental Health
Recommendation 2
Repeated
Can the minister work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to increase the provision of suitable post-release accommodation?
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 3
Repeated
Can resources be provided to enable sufficient provision of programmes to allow prisoners to progress towards successful resettlement?
HMPPS
Education
Recommendation 4
Can the national daily budgetary allowance for food be reviewed, to ensure sufficient nutrition for all prisoners?
HMPPS
Food
Recommendation 5
Can the key worker sessions be returned to their former levels, to offer the required support to prisoners on the wings?
Governor / Director
Staffing
Recommendation 6
Can consideration be given to increasing the number of vocational and accredited qualifications in the workshops, to enhance prisoner confidence and employment opportunities on release?
Governor / Director
Education
Other IMB Reports for Moorland
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
13 Mar 2023
Unannounced
Safety: 3
Respect: 3
Activity: 3
Release: 3
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.