HMP Buckley Hall

What we found

Excellent staff-prisoner relationships underpinned much of the prison’s success. Key workers provided meaningful support to young adults, care leavers, prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) or those with additional complex needs and the Hive, a designated area in the health care unit, offered a wide range of therapeutic activities and initiatives.

Buckley Hall was not fulfilling its core function as a training prison, with almost a third of men locked up during the working day and insufficient spaces in education, skills and work to meet the needs of the prison population. Many prisoners still lived in cramped conditions and cells, particularly on the induction unit, were grubby.

Points to note: Patients requiring assessment under the Mental Health Act waited too long for a decision on their needs, with one patient held in the segregation unit for over 100 days. Rates of self-harm were much higher than at the previous inspection and were still rising.