HMP Chelmsford – encouraging progress at previously failing prison
Inspectors returned to Chelmsford for the first time since the August 2021 inspection, when findings had been so disturbing that the Chief Inspector decided to invoke the Urgent Notification Protocol. At this independent review of progress it was encouraging to find that leaders had made good progress stemming the flow of illicit drugs, improving living conditions, and providing better treatment of prisoners by staff.
Overall, this was a positive and promising review. The governor, his senior team and staff should be congratulated on what they have achieved so far in addressing the shortcomings identified in the Urgent Notification.
Greater ambition is now required to increase the time that prisoners spend out of their cell and in work or education. Consistent leadership, continuing HMPPS support, and sufficient staff will also be needed to sustain this creditable progress.
Inspectors followed up on eight recommendations from the 2021 visit. Three of them concerned prisoner safety, and Chelmsford was judged to have made reasonable or good progress in all three. The flow of drugs into the prison had been stemmed and both staff and prisoners reported that illicit substances were now scarce. Levels of violence had reduced by about 17% during the previous 12 months and our survey indicated that prisoners felt much safer. Leaders had developed a range of initiatives to help reduce violence, such as conflict resolution training for both staff and prisoners, and a ‘safety summit’ where prisoners were consulted in the development of a strategy to manage confrontation.
Self-harm remained high, but staff had a better understanding of how to help prisoners in crisis and the documentation to help those at risk of suicide and self-harm had improved. Leaders had also used data to understand the drivers of self-harm, but despite concluding that being locked up for long periods of time was the most common, inspectors found that time out of cell had only slightly improved. Many prisoners spent more than 22 hours a day locked up. This was principally due to staff shortages, and these recruitment issues were affecting education and work, which was curtailed frequently. Many prisoners did not have their skill level assessed and so their learning plan was not sufficiently tailored to their needs.
Living conditions were much improved and we found more supportive interactions between staff and prisoners. Mr Taylor commented:
“There had been considerable effort… by the senior team to address the serious concerns identified at the last inspection.”
Notes to editors
- Read the HMP Chelmsford independent review of progress, published on 7 October 2022.
- 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.
- HMP and YOI Chelmsford was built in the 1830s. E and F residential units were added in 1996 and G wing was opened in 2006. The prison serves local courts and holds those who are sentenced or on remand.
- Independent Reviews of Progress (IRPs) began in April 2019. They were developed because Ministers wanted an independent assessment of how far prisons had implemented HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ recommendations following particularly concerning prison inspections. IRPs are not inspections and do not result in new judgements against our healthy prison tests. Rather they judge progress being made against the key recommendations made at the previous inspection. The visits are announced and happen eight to 12 months after the original inspection. They last two and a half days and involve a comparatively small team. Reports are published within 25 working days of the end of the visit. We conduct 15 to 20 IRPs each year. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons selects sites for IRPs based on previous healthy prison test assessments and a range of other factors.
- At this Chelmsford IRP we followed up eight of the recommendations from our recent inspection and Ofsted followed up three themes. HM Inspectorate of Prisons judged that there was good progress in three recommendations, reasonable progress in two, and insufficient progress in three recommendations. Ofsted found reasonable progress in one theme and insufficient progress in two themes.
- A report on the most recent full inspection of HMP Chelmsford is available on our website, as is the accompanying media release.
- This IRP visit at HMP Chelmsford took place between 15 and 17 August 2022.
- Please email media@hmiprisons.gov.uk if you would like more information.