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Guys Marsh – gaps in care despite strong and ambitious management

Published:

For a number of years, HM Inspectorate of Prisons had considered Guys Marsh a high-risk prison, and in 2014 we described it as “out of control”. We observed some improvements during our inspection in 2019, and findings at this latest inspection continued the trend of gradual progress, although key issues around safety and purposeful activity still remained.

Overall, we judged the prison to be making slow but steady progress. Good leadership and a supportive staff were causes for optimism. We had confidence that if this sense of initiative in the prison could be maintained measurable improvement to outcomes will eventually be realised.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

Violence had decreased since our last visit but was still higher than at similar prisons, and inspectors found that violent incidents were not investigated thoroughly. Of greater concern was the availability of illicit drugs; 45% of survey respondents said they were easy to get hold of at the prison. Although it was encouraging to see that managers were making efforts to stem the flow, including by strengthening security to reduce the number of ‘throwovers’ at the perimeter, not enough had been done to reduce the supply of illicit drugs.

Outcomes for prisoners in rehabilitation and release planning had deteriorated since our last inspection. Staffing shortfalls and high workloads in the offender management unit hindered the quality of outcomes for prisoners and limited the contact they had with offender managers.

Time out of cell, however, was somewhat better than in similar jails. Mr Taylor said:

“The governor had a strong and commendable focus on getting the prisoners back into work and education after the restrictions of the pandemic, and managers and staff were supportive of this priority.”

Although there was capacity for all prisoners to be employed, only 75% had been allocated to activities, but encouragingly, most of these were full-time. However, significant gaps in education provision were identified by colleagues at Ofsted, most notably the lack of effective and consistent support for prisoners with a learning difficulty or disability. It was disappointing that diagnostic assessments were not used appropriately to plan learning which was tailored to each prisoner’s needs.

Notes to editors

  1. Read the Guys Marsh report, published on 12 October 2022.
  2. HM Inspectorate of Prisons is an independent inspectorate, inspecting places of detention to report on conditions and treatment and promote positive outcomes for those detained and the public.
  3. HMP Guys Marsh is a category C adult male training and resettlement establishment.
  4. At the time of this inspection, the prison held 459 prisoners.
  5. Inspectors identified six examples of notable positive practice during this inspection.
  6. This inspection took place between 21 June and 4–8 July 2022.
  7. Please email media@hmiprisons.gov.uk if you would like more information.