HMP Rochester Urgent Notification

‘I have issued an Urgent Notification for the following reasons:

Rochester was failing in its rehabilitative purpose as a category C training and resettlement prison: our checks during the working day found less than a third of the population engaged in purposeful activity. Wings were chaotic and poorly supervised.

Illicit drug use was endemic: the rate of positive random mandatory drug tests (42%) was the third highest of all category C prisons and, in our survey, over half of all prisoners said it was easy to get alcohol and drugs, including other prisoners’ diverted medications.

Most of the accommodation remained very dilapidated with some of the worst conditions we have seen in recent years: both staff and prisoners told us that rats and mice regularly entered cells and offices on the older wings.

Some very poor outcomes in healthcare: internal and external clinical appointments were cancelled too frequently meaning care and treatment could be hampered leading to considerable clinical risk or complication. These issues are a significant concern to the Care Quality Commission as the regulator of healthcare.

Safety in the prison was deteriorating: reported incidents of violence against staff and prisoners had increased, for example the rate of prisoner assaults had increased by 67% in the past year. Use of force was high, and we identified some that was inappropriate. There had been two self-inflicted deaths since our last inspection and there were also more reported incidents of self-harm.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

The full list of reasons Rochester’s Urgent Notification was issued can be read in the letter above.