Wayland

Staff are not able to help prisoners with personal problems on arrival, and the ability to respond to loneliness has seen a catastrophic drop from 50% to 5%.

Over half of respondents reported that their cell was not clean on arrival, cleaning materials were not easy to get, and nearly half reported toilets, showers, and basins were not as clean as they should be. Furthermore, 43% of cells lacked sufficient equipment.

Almost 60% of prisoners continue to report feeling lonely, and staff's ability or willingness to address this issue has significantly worsened, with only 5% of lonely prisoners feeling able to talk to staff about it.

Drugs and hooch are too easily available, with two-thirds of respondents confirming this, indicating a major failing in keeping prisoners safe and creating an environment where prisoners struggle to avoid illicit substances.

Almost 80% of prisoners do not believe they are being helped by staff with their personal problems about life after release.

37% of respondents reported difficulty reading and writing, with 55% of these not receiving adequate help. The report highlights that reading education is not given sufficient priority, and current assessments and offerings are unsuitable for many.

Only 31% of prisoners find their sentence plan useful, with 40% stating it is not useful and 39% unsure, suggesting sentence management is not fully tuned to prisoner needs for rehabilitation.

Only 21% of prisoners believe that complaints are dealt with fairly, a figure that remains largely unchanged since the 2022 HMIP inspection, indicating persistent issues with the quality and fairness of the complaints system.

Prisoner Forums are still perceived as unhelpful by two-thirds of respondents, a figure unchanged from the previous year. Similarly, 60% of prisoners find the prison's communications about regime matters ineffective.

Visits from family or friends are received by only just over half of respondents, primarily due to cost, distance, and lack of transport, an issue exacerbated by the prison's remote location and planned capacity increase.

Recommendation 1 Repeated Prev. unaddressed

more staff training is needed. Moreover, given the constraints on the time that new receptions spend in the First Night Centre before they are thrown into the melee of the standard wings, the real focus for staff training should be on Band 3 and Band 4 staff. Realistically, the training to equip all such staff for a high level of competence in managing the multifarious issues that are likely to be presented by new receptions will be a long haul. It should be started, of course, but perhaps a quicker fix could be achieved by bringing together the knowledge of, say, the ten most likely issues (supported by perhaps a survey of new receptions for a month) and ensuring Band 3 and 4 staff are brought up to speed on how either those issues can be addressed by them or by reference to specialist help. The circle of help could be closed by ensuring that the staff approached by a prisoner noted the concerns expressed and help requested and that, importantly, the specialist staff are then recorded as informed of the need for intervention with that prisoner. The Board believes that this approach could be a significant help in manging the obvious stressors that accompany a prisoner’s first few days and weeks in Wayland.

Governor / Director Staffing

Recommendation 2 Repeated Prev. unaddressed

prison management make efforts to follow up this finding through a variety of means and devise appropriate training modules for staff to encourage sensitivity to this issue and confidence in talking with prisoners about it.

Governor / Director Mental Health

Recommendation 3

future staff training sessions could take account of the points honestly made by respondents.

Governor / Director Staffing

Recommendation 4

perhaps a voluntary program experience which opens up this very personal issue could be helpful in encouraging the possibility of trust in others in open society which might be very hard for those who have received little trust in their previous lives or upbringing. We therefore commend this suggestion to prison management for their consideration.

Governor / Director Safety

Recommendation 5

whether there could not be a greater emphasis on alternative strategies than ones of prohibition and interdiction of the actual supply and the provision of treatment options for those caught up in its effects. We mean by this a strategy which counters the reasons that prisoners find drug-taking either attractive as a way of dealing with their personal pains of imprisonment, or seeks innovative approaches to creating greater resilience amongst the prisoner population and greater action against the predations of in-prison pushers.

Governor / Director Substance Misuse

Recommendation 6

strategies are considered by the prison to offset the lack of visits by other means; including perhaps a greater opportunity for remote visits when families may be more reachable, say at weekends and in the evenings, if relaxations to those periods can be made in the future when the prison is fully up to complement with its staff.

Governor / Director Resettlement

Recommendation 7

strongly recommend to all areas of the prison’s management, that further consultative investigation is done with prisoners to unpack the reasons behind this result, and, if justified, consider strategies to respond to the findings revealed.

Governor / Director Resettlement

Recommendation 8

it should be read by Wayland’s prison management and then to respond appropriately to our, and the report’s, findings.

Governor / Director Education

Recommendation 9

we can do no other than to recommend that the effort is made, nationally and not just locally, to seek ways to make the sentence plan feel more relevant to the majority of prisoners’ lives and futures.

HMPPS Resettlement

Recommendation 10

perhaps a system of update messages, generated at the standard timeframe of five working days for an internal response, might be considered by management, signed off by the relevant SO or CM so that it might be personalised.

Governor / Director Complaints

Recommendation 11 Repeated Prev. unaddressed

prison management should perhaps review how effective they are in addressing prisoners’ concerns by this means. We repeat that suggestion in 2024.

Governor / Director Regime

Recommendation 12

management carry out its own review about why the lack of appreciation of their efforts in these important areas stubbornly exists, in addressing the issue revealed in this survey.

Governor / Director Regime

Recommendation 13 Repeated

increase consultation over food within the prison’s communication strategy with its prisoners, as was suggested by the HMIP 2017 Wayland inspection report.

Governor / Director Food