HMP Isle of Wight – failure to prepare for the release of high-risk prisoners
A prison that houses high-risk sex offenders is failing to prepare effectively for their release into the community, a new report confirms. HMP Isle of Wight releases one or two high risk prisoners per month, but evidence from the inspection suggested that these prisoners were not always identified or discussed at a multidisciplinary forum ahead of their release to make sure risk management plans were robust.
Inspectors were concerned that one in five prisoners left the prison without a sustainable place to live.
Only 30 prisoners had completed an offending behaviour programme for those convicted of a sexual offence. Acute staffing shortages had slowed progress to deliver programmes at pre-pandemic levels and included a severe lack of qualified psychologists. Poor access to offending behaviour programmes was a particular issue for the approximately 130 prisoners serving indeterminate sentences, for whom completion of these programmes is often a requirement for parole.
Standards had declined across all four healthy prison tests, with inspectors having particular concerns about the rising rates of self-harm and the number of suicides. The standard of case management documents for those at risk of self-harm was inadequate, and prisoners spoke to inspectors about a lack of care shown to them by some staff.
Staff shortages plagued HMP Isle of Wight. Just over a third of officer posts were either vacant or the staff were not deployable to operational duties, leaving too few officers on the wings to provide a proper regime. Unemployed prisoners spent less than two hours out of their cells each day during the week. Inspectors found many employed prisoners also locked up due to a lack of instructors, despite the published regime promising eight hours out of cell Monday-Thursday.
National shortages of prison staff have affected the entire estate, but the problem has been particularly acute in long-term high secure jails such as Swaleside, Woodhill, and the Isle of Wight. The mixture of inexperienced staff and experienced prisoners, compounded by the boredom and frustration of being locked up most of the day, tends towards an environment in which both officers and prisoners feel unsafe and unsupported.
HMP Isle of Wight is a training prison – its primary purpose is to support rehabilitation and prepare prisoners for release including those who pose a high risk of harm to the public but it’s failing to do so. Their time in prison presents an opportunity to reduce their risk of reoffending, and that opportunity is being lost when, instead of taking part in education, work and training, men are sitting locked in their cells all day. When it comes to the end of their sentences, too many men we know pose a risk of harm to the public are being released without a sustainable place to live and without proper planning around protecting victims of their crimes and often inadequate contact with local probation services. This is frightening. The prison service has to take serious and immediate action to address this.
Notes to editors
1. Read the HMP Isle of Wight report, published on 17 January 2023.
2. 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.
3. HMP Isle of Wight opened in April 2009 following the merger of three prisons –Albany,
Parkhurst and Camp Hill. Albany was constructed in the 1960s and occupies the site of a
former military barracks. Parkhurst was originally a military hospital and became a prison in
1863. Camp Hill was built in 1912 using prisoner labour from Parkhurst but closed in April
2013.
4. HMP Isle of Wight is a designated category B male training prison predominantly for prisoners
convicted of sexual offences with a small local remand function.
5. At the time of this inspection, the prison held 971 prisoners.
6. Inspectors identified one example of notable positive practice during this inspection.
7. This inspection took place 20 September – 7 October 2022.
8. Please email media@hmiprisons.gov.uk if you would like more information.