Prison
Cat C
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Wymott
IMB Annual Report 2024 · Published 1 November 2024
HMP Wymott continues to face significant challenges due to chronic staffing shortages, impacting regime delivery, purposeful activity, and healthcare provision. While the Board noted effective management of safety incidents and good resettlement work, concerns persist regarding poor accommodation, inadequate mental health support, and the lack of employment opportunities stemming from workshop closures. The report highlights a need for substantial investment in infrastructure and better staffing to improve prisoner conditions and services.
Positive Findings
The Board found that Wymott effectively manages incidents of violence and self-harm, and commended staff for their handling of deaths in custody and support for affected individuals. Positive developments include the increased use of body-worn video cameras by officers and the opening of a new dialysis room. The prison's gardens and outside areas are well-maintained, and the chaplaincy provides strong pastoral support and promotes interfaith harmony. Education provision is broad, and initiatives like the ABCD programme and various arts courses thrive, especially on the PCOSO side. Resettlement planning, family liaison services, and the employment hub are also noted as good.
Key Concerns
Safety
Increases in acts of violence, including prisoner on prisoner assaults, with the majority involving prisoners between 25 and 34 years of age.
Substance Misuse
The incidence of illicit drug use has been of concern, particularly following drone drops in the vicinity. Mandatory drug testing (MDT) has fallen behind the prison’s key performance target.
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
Lack of progress with major refurbishment projects has seen a continuation of the deterioration in living conditions, with many prisoners in over-crowded and shabby conditions.
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
The poor state of the toilets and showers on A and B wings and unreliable heating and hot water on G and H wings is a great concern, with repairs often not carried out in a timely manner.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
Time out of cell has been negatively impacted by staff shortages and lack of purposeful activity, with regular weekend half-day lockdowns a common occurrence.
Food/Catering
Continued major problems with the infrastructure and equipment in the kitchen, which was originally designed for 800 prisoners and struggles to cater for nearly 1200.
Mental Health
Repeated
Healthcare at Wymott remains not good enough, particularly mental health support, with staff shortages leading to long waits for therapeutic interventions.
Mental Health
Prisoners with serious mental health problems wait too long for a place in a secure mental health facility.
Healthcare
Lack of consistency and continuity in the provision of medication and difficulties with medication management and distribution.
Healthcare
Too many primary care appointments are missed, and outside hospital appointments cancelled due to triaging often carried out by non-clinical prison staff.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Lack of employment on the category C side of the prison due to the failure of the roof over the main workshops, compromising its function as a training prison.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Shortage of staff has meant that prisoners’ right of access to the library has been sacrificed, with many scheduled sessions cancelled.
Staffing
Repeated
The prison has continued to suffer the effects of chronic staffing shortages across both directly and indirectly employed staff.
Other
Repeated
The prison continues to hold the highest number of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs) in the country, raising concerns about the gross injustice of this system.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staffing shortages continue to severely impact HMP Wymott, with high absence rates among uniformed staff hindering regime delivery and keywork sessions. Low staffing levels are a consistent challenge across healthcare, pharmacy, and mental health services, affecting overall provision. The Board is also concerned about the imbalance between experienced officers and new recruits within the prison service.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision at Wymott remains unsatisfactory, particularly in mental health, where staff shortages cause long waits for interventions and secure facility transfers. There is inconsistency in medication distribution and frequent missed or cancelled primary care and hospital appointments, often due to non-clinical triaging decisions. The current contract with Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust has consistently failed to meet prisoners' needs.
Regime & Daily Life
The prison regime is heavily impacted by staff shortages and a lack of purposeful activity, especially due to workshop closures, leading to significant reductions in time out of cell. Prisoners have experienced regular weekend half-day lockdowns and, at times, have been locked up for 22-23 hours a day. Access to vital services like the library and gym has also been curtailed, causing confusion and frustration.
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) | 61 | 38 | |
| Discrimination | 12 | 6 | |
| Food | 20 | 23 | |
| Healthcare | 49 | 45 | |
| Other | 39 | 32 | |
| Property | 54 | 61 | |
| Regime (including activities, visits, time out of cell) | 30 | 22 | |
| Sentence management (including release, parole) | 54 | 41 | |
| Staff (including complaints against staff) | 32 | 19 | |
| Total | 351 | 287 |
Recommendations (12)
Ministry of Justice: 3
HMPPS: 5
Governor / Director: 4
5 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Does the Government have any plans to work towards the release of prisoners serving IPP sentences? The prison has implemented measures to support these prisoners (see section 3.3), but there remains a gross injustice in this system.
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Response
Following the Justice Select Committee’s report of Sept 22, the Government issued an updated Action Plan to support those serving an IPP sentence towards a safe and sustainable release. Within Wymott an IPP/lifer forum has been established and meets bi-monthly. An experienced POM leads this group. IPP prisoners are a priority for key work. A local IPP policy is being drawn up. An independent thematic inspection of the Probation Service’s use of recall will be carried out; findings expected by the end of 2023. HMPPS officials will also complete a short review of internal processes.
Recommendation 2
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Can the Minister provide an update on whether the planned new prison in the immediate locality will go ahead?
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Response
As of May 2024, no final decision has been made on whether plans for a new prison will be approved.
Recommendation 3
What plans does the Government have for easing the pressure on prison populations?
Ministry of Justice
Overcrowding
Recommendation 4
Can HMPPS give any indication of when/whether funding will be provided to replace the category C workshop roof (see section 7.2)?
HMPPS
Estate
Recommendation 5
Is there likely to be funding available in the near future to upgrade the kitchen at Wymott (see section 5.1)?
HMPPS
Food
Recommendation 6
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Does HMPPS have any plans to address the issue of recruitment and retention of officers within the prison service? The Board is concerned about the current imbalance between experienced officers and new recruits.
HMPPS
Staffing
Response
Nationally, the staffing picture for prisons is improving. Should the new prison go ahead, HMPPS would work closely with the operator; during the competition to select the operator significant weighting will be given to their staffing levels and proposals for recruitment.
Recommendation 7
The Board has been concerned about the triaging of hospital escorts by Duty Governors, as these are clinical decisions (see section 6.2). Can HMPPS offer assurances that negotiations for the new healthcare contract will address this?
HMPPS
Healthcare
Recommendation 8
Does HMPPS intend to continue to fund resettlement at Wymott? The Board note that this area was praised by HMIP and would like to see this continue (see section 7.5).
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 9
The Board recognises the work that the prison is doing to tackle the influx of drugs into the prison (see section 4.5), however what more can be done to mitigate against this?
Governor / Director
Substance_misuse
Recommendation 10
What can the Governor do to ensure that the excellent library provision at Wymott is protected? The Board is concerned that lack of access to the service will result in a reduction in the offer (see section 7.1).
Governor / Director
Education
Recommendation 11
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Despite the limited provision for purposeful activity on the category C side, what can the Governor do to ensure that prisoners engage with the opportunities that are available?
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 12
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
What is the Governor doing to bring pressure to bear on the healthcare provider to ensure that the standard of prisoner care is equivalent to that in the community?
Governor / Director
Healthcare
Other IMB Reports for Wymott
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
11 Dec 2023
Unannounced
Safety: 3
Respect: 2
Activity: 2
Release: 4
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.