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Archives: Reports

Contains details of Reports

HMP Peterborough (Men)

Peterborough (Men) healthy prison scores

What we found

Peterborough’s population was transient and demand for resettlement help was high. The prison had released around 1,200 men in the last 12 months and in the same period had received around 700 men who had been recalled to prison for breaking the rules of their community supervision period. Around a third of those released were high risk prisoners. There was not enough housing support, with about 30% of all releases going out street homeless. Despite this high level of need, the housing adviser had not entered the prison for over a year and there had been no substantive head of reducing reoffending for nearly two years.

The early release scheme (End of Custody Supervised Licence) had added further pressure, and a number of men released under the scheme, for whom accommodation had not been found, had been recalled to prison even before their original release date had passed.

The prison was also struggling with staffing, with around a third of officers typically being unavailable for duty. Many staff said that they felt unsupported, and morale was low. Senior staff had also been deployed to support other Sodexo prisons over the last 18 months, which had contributed to the overall deterioration of the prison which inspectors had previously considered one of the better reception and resettlement prisons.

This was a worrying inspection. It is particularly disappointing that Peterborough, which has historically been one of the better resettlement prisons in the country, has suffered for its more experienced staff being taken to shore up other struggling jails run by Sodexo. But its deterioration also shows the strain that is on all of our prisons at the moment, with common themes such as drugs, staffing challenges, overcrowding and a revolving door for those caught in a cycle of reoffending. Until prisons focus on breaking that cycle by providing meaningful education, employment and other rehabilitation, our communities will continue to suffer, because where there is reoffending, there are more victims.

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons
Read the full press release
Easy read summary
(PDF, 627 KB)
Population profile
(PDF, 147 KB)
Prisoner survey methodology and results
(PDF, 378 KB)
Prisoner survey analysis – Excel workbook
(XLSX, 467 KB)
Staff survey methodology and results
(PDF, 199 KB)

HMP Five Wells

What we found

Opening in early 2022, this was Five Wells’ first inspection. After a period of unsettled leadership, the recently appointed director brought experience and stability.

While incidents of violence were falling and staff felt safer, staff inexperience and lack of confidence meant low-level poor behaviour went unchallenged and too few key work sessions were taking place. The regime remained limited and the quality of education, skills and work was not good enough. The prison also continued to face challenges with the use of illicit drugs.

Points to note

The living conditions were excellent and access to facilities was reasonable. The use of force and segregation was low, but rates of self-harm were extremely high, with not enough being done to reduce this.

Easy read summary
(PDF, 681 KB)
Population statistics
(PDF, 146 KB)
Prisoner survey methodology and results
(PDF, 374 KB)
Prisoner survey analysis – Excel workbook
(XLSX, 334 KB)
Staff survey methodology and results
(PDF, 195 KB)

Albania escort and removals

What we found

Inspectors found operational practices to be generally well organised, but too many Albanian detainees waited in detention for several weeks despite wanting to return voluntarily. However, efforts had been made to reduce total journey times. Leaders had acted on, and continued to act on, the staff culture and interactions with detainees were mostly respectful and positive.

Points to note

Information about vulnerability and risk was not clearly communicated to escort staff or paramedics and the opening of detainees’ medical notes without their consent breached medical confidentiality. The use of interpreters needed better oversight.

HMP Wymott

Wymott healthy prison scores

What we found

Leaders at Wymott failed to tackle the very high staff sickness rates, which meant too few officers were available for operational duties on the wing. This led to an incredibly restricted part-time regime for unemployed prisoners on the main site, some of whom spent 21 hours a day locked up, and the weekend regime was poor for all. Activities across the prison and prisoners’ key health care appointments were often curtailed or cancelled. Specialised officers, such as those with additional psychological training or prison offender managers, were frequently redeployed to do operational tasks.

Staff shortages meant the wait for psychological intervention was extensive, with therapy being 39 weeks and over a year for counselling. This may have contributed to the findings in the inspectorate’s survey in which 20% of prisoners with mental health difficulties said they has developed a problem with drugs since arriving at Wymott. Whilst there had been over 10,000 intelligence reports submitted relating to drugs, a lack of operational officers meant staff completed less than a third of searches, many delayed, and only a third of suspicion drugs tests.

The influx of drugs at Wymott remained a serious problem. It was a cause of debt that resulted in prisoners self-isolating and self-harming because of their fears of violence. There were limited resources available to keep drugs out of the prison with no scanners, systematic checks on staff or adequate technology to reduce the frequent arrival of contraband-laden drones over the large perimeter fence.

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons
Read the full press release
Easy read summary
(PDF, 616 KB)
Population profile
(PDF, 146 KB)
Prisoner survey methodology and results
(PDF, 374 KB)
Prisoner survey analysis – Excel workbook
(XLSX, 501 KB)
Staff survey methodology and results
(PDF, 195 KB)

Action plan

HM Prison and Probation Service Action Plan
(PDF, 311 KB)

HMP Humber

Humber healthy prison scores

What we found

Designated as a resettlement prison since our last inspection, inspectors found Humber to be a well-led and settled establishment.

First night accommodation was clean, staff and peer workers welcomed new arrivals, violence was lower than at similar prisons and few men were self-isolating despite the size of the site. The limited regime, the use of illicit drugs, and the prisoner debt these drugs caused, posed the biggest threats to safety. Only 40% of prisoners engaged in purposeful activity and there was a shortfall in the number of training and industries places. Approximately 10% of prisoners were released to no fixed abode and some prisoners with long-term conditions did not always receive the care and treatment needed.

Points to note

The specialised HOPE (Humber Offering Progressive Environments) unit provided a positive environment for prisoners serving long, indeterminate or extended determinate sentences to support them to demonstrate a reduction in their risk. It incentivised positive behaviour through self-cook facilities and on-wing fitness suites.

Easy read summary
(PDF, 553 KB)
Population profile
(PDF, 145 KB)
Prisoner survey methodology and results
(PDF, 375 KB)
Prisoner survey analysis – Excel workbook
(XLSX, 427 KB)
Staff survey analysis and results
(PDF, 195 KB)

Action plan

HM Prison and Probation Service Action Plan
(PDF, 280 KB)

Efficiency spotlight report: The impact of recruitment and retention on the criminal justice system

Read the Joint Efficiency Spotlight report

Read the press release

The report draws on evidence from inspections conducted by each of the individual inspectorates, both jointly and singly, of the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the Probation and Youth Offending Services and the Prison Service. It sets out the findings from this work, as well as cross-cutting themes. It concludes by highlighting signs of progress as well as ongoing risks to the criminal justice system.

HMP/YOI Hindley

Hindley healthy prison scores

What we found

Inexperienced prison officers were struggling to manage a very challenging prison dominated by a ‘tsunami’ of drugs, high levels of violence and self-harm and failing infrastructure.

Hindley was facing serious staffing challenges, with a rate of attrition of officers in the top ten of prisons nationally, a high number leaving within their first year of employment. More than 40% of basic grade officers had less than one years’ experience, and 58% had less than two years. This very inexperienced cohort of officers were managing a very challenging population, with a high proportion of prisoners having links to organised crime, high levels of violence and self-harm and more than half of prisoners testing positive for illegal drugs during routine drug testing. Perhaps unsurprisingly, inspectors found that staff lacked confidence in challenging poor behaviour.

Hindley is facing an uphill battle: many prisoners arriving at the jail had an existing drug problem, and a large minority had known links to organised crime, so it’s unsurprising that the prison had a near tsunami of drugs. The situation was so bad that mandatory drug testing found more than half of prisoners were on drugs at any one time. Combined with the indolence, boredom and frustration created by a really poor regime, and some very inexperienced staff, it is no surprise that the prison just wasn’t safe enough.

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons
Read the full press release
Easy read summary
(PDF, 735 KB)
Population profile
(PDF, 145 KB)
Prisoner survey methodology and results
(PDF, 377 KB)
Prisoner survey analysis – Excel workbook
(XLSX, 370 KB)
Staff survey methodology and results
(PDF, 195 KB)

Action plan

HM Prisons and Probation Service Action Plan
(PDF, 430 KB)

HMYOI Wetherby

What we found

Some of the most vulnerable children in the country were being stripped of their clothing under restraint with far too little oversight and accountability and inappropriate use of pain-inducing techniques.

While all institutions holding children are faced with high levels of need, Wetherby held a particularly complex group including children with a level of risk equivalent to Category A adult men and those requiring support or interventions from multiple agencies. Nearly half of the children had previously been in local authority care, and the YOI held some extremely vulnerable girls giving the YOI the highest rate of self-harm of any prison in the country with officers often having to intervene multiple times at night to stop girls ligaturing. Despite their known risk in this area, inspectors were shocked to find all-male teams of officers forcibly restraining a girl to remove her clothing to prevent her self-harming not once but twice.

We were deeply shocked to find adult male officers restraining and stripping an incredibly vulnerable girl not once but twice. While they no doubt acted to prevent serious harm, the presence of multiple men pinning her down and removing her clothes will have caused further trauma and, given how predictable the behaviour of this particular girl was, the YOI has no excuse not to have made sure that female officers were in attendance.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
Read the full press release
Easy read summary
(PDF, 593 KB)
Population profile
(PDF, 116 KB)
Prisoner survey methodology and results
(PDF, 268 KB)
Prisoner survey analysis – Excel workbook
(XLSX, 144 KB)
Staff survey methodology and results
(PDF, 216 KB)

Action plan

HM Prison and Probation Service Action Plan
(PDF, 301 KB)

HMP/YOI Peterborough (Women)

Peterborough (Women) healthy prison scores

What we found

At the time of inspection, Peterborough was generally safe with supportive relationships between staff and prisoners. Help to maintain family connections and living conditions were good. But Peterborough lacked a purposeful regime, with work being menial, education inadequate, and enrichment and recreation activities limited. However, work to prepare women for release was generally good despite high caseloads.

Points to note

The Peterborough site compromises a prison for women next to one for men run by the same leadership team. The men’s site is much larger, and there was a risk that policies designed for the men’s site were not applied wholesale to the women’s site. For example, there were no self-harm, violence reduction, or resettlement strategies, or action plans, specific to women. Staff vacancies limited mental health service support.

Easy read summary
(PDF, 598 KB)
Population profile
(PDF, 147 KB)
Prisoner survey methodology and results
(PDF, 417 KB)
Prisoner survey analysis – Excel workbook
(XLSX, 403 KB)
Staff survey methodology and results
(PDF, 196 KB)

Action plan

HM Prison and Probation Service Action Plan
(PDF, 272 KB)

HMP Morton Hall

What we found

Since 2021, HMP Morton Hall has been a category C resettlement prison for adult male foreign national offenders. The inspection was mostly positive, with an encouraging and respectful culture and clean and decent accommodation in welcoming grounds. However, the quality of the regime and access to work and education fell short.

Points to note

Worryingly for a resettlement prison, many prisoners were frustrated by being unable to progress through their sentence and by a lack of contact with offender managers and there had been no use of release on temporary licence.

Easy read summary
(PDF, 646 KB)
Population statistics
(PDF, 92 KB)
Prisoner survey methodology and results
(PDF, 374 KB)
Prisoner survey analysis – Excel workbook
(XLSX, 210 KB)
Staff survey methodology and results
(PDF, 194 KB)

Action plan

HM Prison and Probation Service Action Plan
(PDF, 289 KB)