Prison
Cat High Security
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Whitemoor
IMB Annual Report 2024 · Published 31 October 2024
HMP Whitemoor, a high-security Category B training prison, faced significant challenges in the reporting year (June 2023 - May 2024), particularly due to staff shortages and a changing prisoner demographic. These issues led to curtailed regimes, limited purposeful activity, and inadequate access to family and legal visits. While the prison made efforts in areas like property handling, cleanliness, and managing self-harm incidents, key concerns persist regarding the appropriateness of holding Category B prisoners in Category A conditions and the quality of purposeful engagement.
Positive Findings
The reception and induction of new prisoners was planned and managed well. The prison successfully intercepted considerable quantities of illicit items, and routine use of force incidents were rigorously analysed with lessons learned. There were significant improvements in the general cleanliness of residential areas and most showers were refurbished. The management of the Segregation Unit also improved, with concerted efforts to return men to main location. Physical healthcare services were good, and the Mental Health Team managed their caseload effectively despite being short-staffed. Special attention was given to IPP prisoners, with several making progressive moves.
Key Concerns
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
The two-thirds of prisoners at Whitemoor who are Category B are not held in the more restrictive conditions needed for those who are Category A.
Education/Purposeful Activity
The Prison Service needs to set formal standards to ensure that time in long-term jails is used constructively, and that activities labelled as purposeful truly are.
Resettlement/Release
Prisoners lack fair and dependable access to all visits, including legal ones, whether virtual or in-person.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Regimes were curtailed throughout the year due to staffing problems, leading to prisoner patience being tested and violent incidents.
Safety
Assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) reviews were too often held without multidisciplinary support teams.
Healthcare
Poor organisation on some wings meant medical appointments were missed, and medications were typically delivered late.
Estate/Conditions
Rodent infestation persisted across the prison.
Board Commentary
Staffing
New staff were acclimatising, and officer shortages challenged morale and disrupted regimes throughout the year. The Board noted few ethnic groups other than white were represented among staff. The number of Segregation Unit staff on sick absence or restricted duties placed reliance on staff from elsewhere, adversely affecting morale and causing burnout. Whitemoor's own staffing numbers were edging back to normal, but with many new officers in training, the year closed with significant gaps. Trained staff levels need improvement, with staff shortages identified as the biggest risk.
Healthcare
Poor organisation on some wings often resulted in missed medical appointments and late delivery of medications. While physical healthcare services were good, long waiting lists for specialist services like dentistry persisted. The Mental Health Team, though short-staffed, appeared to manage their caseload well, with a member routinely attending Segregation Reviews. The Substance Misuse team's one-to-one sessions were hampered by regime closures and limited confidential rooms, and group sessions were infrequent due to officer shortages.
Regime & Daily Life
Regimes were consistently curtailed throughout the year due to staffing problems, testing prisoners' patience and severely limiting time out of cell and purposeful activity. Education sessions saw closures between 30% and 60%, and workshops fared similarly poorly. Visiting arrangements, both social and legal, were inadequate, with frequent short-notice cancellations and long waits for legal visits, raising concerns about human rights and the maintenance of social contacts.
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 laundry, clothing, ablutions | 6 | 5 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogues | 4 | 3 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives scheme, sanctions | 18 | 14 | |
| Equality | 3 | 4 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 7 | 2 | |
| Food and kitchens | 8 | 5 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 16 | 14 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection, restrictions | 30 | 19 | |
| Miscellaneous | 17 | 16 | |
| Property during transfer or in another facility | 12 | 9 | |
| Property within the establishment | 19 | 5 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, time out of cell | 19 | 15 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, ROTL, parole, release dates, re-categorisation | 16 | 8 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 31 | 14 | |
| Transfers | 1 | 3 |
Recommendations (3)
Ministry of Justice: 1
HMPPS: 1
Governor / Director: 1
1 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Will the Minister direct the reconfiguration of the High Security Estate so that the two-thirds of prisoners at Whitemoor who are Category B are not held in the more restrictive conditions needed for those who are Category A?
Ministry of Justice
Regime
Response
The Board had asked the Prison Service to reflect whether the Dispersal System remained the best way to hold prisoners, with all category B prisoners at Whitemoor held with greater restrictions than their nominal peers elsewhere in the prison estate, limiting their sense of progression. The system remained, as did the Board’s doubts.
Recommendation 2
Will the Prison Service set formal standards to ensure that time in long-term jails is used constructively, and that activities labelled as purposeful truly are?
HMPPS
Education and Purposeful Activity
Recommendation 3
Will the Governor ensure that prisoners have fair and dependable access to all visits, including legal ones, whether virtual or in-person?
Governor / Director
Resettlement and Family Contact
Other IMB Reports for Whitemoor
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
5 Dec 2022
Unannounced
Safety: 3
Respect: 2
Activity: 1
Release: 2
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.