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HMP Nottingham – more work needed to create a safe environment

Published:

Inspectors returning to HMP Nottingham, a reception and resettlement prison serving the courts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, found a prison still struggling to maintain a safe environment and a meaningful regime.

In 2018 we issued an Urgent Notification, a rare event but indicative of the situation in the prison at the time. Since then, we have seen evidence of greater grip and some progress, although this is not yet reflected in our healthy prison scores. Indeed, at this inspection outcomes in rehabilitation and release planning had got worse.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

Levels of self-harm had reduced by 17% since the last inspection, but remained too high, and there had been one self-inflicted death since HMI Prisons had last visited. The case management and oversight of prisoners on constant supervision was not good enough. Many prisoners on an ACCT, the care planning process for those at risk of suicide and self-harm, reported feeling uncared for.

Violence was now at similar level to comparator prisons, but arrangements to reduce it further were not understood by staff or prisoners, and oversight and management of those on the programme was poor. Use of force, however, remained high and there was inconsistent attendance at use of force meetings and a failure to use data to better inform practice.

The regime was reopening slowly after the lifting of pandemic restrictions, but unemployed prisoners, who made up 45% of the total population, were locked up for 22 hours a day. There were too few work places and the allocation process was inefficient. Although the education curriculum was well defined, this was hampered by the lack of education places, particularly for functional skills and language classes for non-English speakers. However, prisoners in vocational workshops were developing good skills which would increase their employability on release.

Some prisoners felt that there was a lack of awareness among staff about equality and diversity, but the new governor had a strong commitment to promoting this work and a tailored strategy had been implemented.

Mr Taylor said:

“We inspected at a time of transition in the leadership of the prison. A new governor had recently arrived, and he seemed to be building on the stability and steady improvement created by the previous incumbent. Oversight arrangements were getting better, and the priorities identified for the prison appeared to make sense.”

Notes to editors

  1. Read the HMP Nottingham report, published on 30 September 2022.
  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 Nottingham is a reception and resettlement prison serving the courts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
  4. At the time of this inspection, the prison held 855 prisoners.
  5. Inspectors identified two examples of notable positive practice during this inspection.
  6. The inspection took place between 24–25 May and 6–10 June 2022.
  7. Please email media@hmiprisons.gov.uk if you would like more information.