HMP Feltham B – violence between warring factions dominating prison life
Inspectors returning to HMP Feltham B were impressed by the hard work of staff in a very challenging environment, which was dominated by high levels of violence between different groups of prisoners.
The prison, which holds young men aged 18-21 years, was struggling to deal with the sustained levels of violence, with 300 ‘keep aparts’ in place involving 175 out of the 307 prisoners. Prisoners told inspectors they lived in fear of being assaulted, and many were too afraid to leave their cells to attend education. This meant only 60% of prisoners were in education, which was poor for a resettlement prison. For those who did attend, the process of escorting them safely to workshops or classrooms without meeting other groups of prisoners was fraught with difficulty, and staff too often had to deal with planned assaults between different groups of prisoners.
Feltham B had fallen into the habit of maintaining extensive keep-apart lists. Although these arrangements can be necessary in extreme cases, our experience is that prisons with the most keep aparts are often the most violent, which was certainly the case here. The prison was further compounding the issue by placing new arrivals in groups, which led to affiliations that themselves became a cause of violence, even though some of the prisoners had been mixing safely at their previous prison.
Staff were working hard to tackle and prevent violent incidents. While use of force was high, it was justified and proportionate and inspectors saw footage from body-worn cameras which showed staff were swift to intervene when violence occurred, undoubtedly preventing prisoners from becoming seriously injured.
Prison staff used key work effectively, which is a scheme to support better relationships between staff and prisoners and so reduce suicide and self-harm and violent incidents. Most prisoners, 95%, said that they had a key worker, which was much higher than other similar prisons, and spoke positively about their sessions. Records of sessions supported this, with staff noting interactions and questions they used to help generate conversation with prisoners and build trust.
The levels of violence that we found at Feltham were unacceptable. Nevertheless, prison staff were managing to deliver impressive work in very difficult circumstances, including to tackle and ultimately reduce violence. The foundations are in place to reduce the violence – with good relationships between staff and prisoners and an active, present governor supported by an experienced senior team. I hope that our inspection findings will support the governor and her team in getting a grip on violence and keep aparts so that these young men can get back into education and training to support their rehabilitation ahead of their release.
Despite the poor attendance at education, the prison had found other ways to engage prisoners in education. The library was well used, and prisoners could request a book from their laptops to be delivered to their cell. The library also ran quizzes remotely, which included elements of spelling and grammar and informally promoted literacy. Eighty-seven prisoners had also taken part in the reading ahead programme, which entailed reading six books and writing a review on each. During the previous 12 months, 98 prisoners had also completed some part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
Notes to editors
- Read the HMP Feltham B report, published on 25 April 2023.
- 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 Feltham B is a category C training and resettlement prison for prisoners aged 18-21 years. The vast majority of prisoners are from the London area serving sentences of three to four years.
- At the time of this inspection, the prison held 307 prisoners.
- Inspectors identified two examples of notable positive practice during this inspection.
- This inspection took place between 3-13 January 2023.
- Please email media@hmiprisons.gov.uk if you would like more information.