HMP/YOI Styal – inspectors confident that leadership can drive improvement
Styal women’s prison in Cheshire remained safe and respectful, inspectors found, but faced the challenges of staffing shortages and an increase in lower-level violence as a result of frustrations with COVID-19 restrictions.
Inspectors visited the prison – holding 362 women in a former children’s home, with Edwardian houseblocks – in September and October 2021. Most of the women were on remand or serving short sentences, though a substantial minority were serving long sentences of imprisonment.
The site provides excellent opportunities to develop independent living, but also presents some challenges, particularly in supervising women inside the individual houses and around the extensive grounds.
However, important steps had been taken to provide better supervision of women when they were not in the houses, which helped to provide a sense of safety and a more settled environment.
“COVID-19 restrictions had meant that women were locked in their houses together – with up to four sharing a small room – for long periods of time. Under such conditions it was perhaps not surprising that there had been an increase in levels of violence since we last inspected as frustrations began to spill over into confrontations”, Mr Taylor said. Most violent incidents were not serious.
Prison leaders had addressed the high levels of self-harm among some of the women and worked to improve care for the most vulnerable, putting into place the learning from investigations into four self-inflicted deaths since the last inspection in 2018.
Inspectors noted an impressive, weekly safety interventions meeting (SIM) which sought to understand the needs of, and provide for, those most at risk. However, Mr Taylor said:
Despite the strong, whole-prison approach, some women with acute mental health difficulties still ended up in the bleak segregation unit, where some caring staff did their best to support the women in completely unsuitable conditions.
On the Bollinwood house unit, outside the perimeter fence, a small number of women were living in open conditions. During the pandemic, however, release on temporary licence (ROTL) had been suspended. “This meant that many lost their jobs outside the prison and, for much of lockdown, they were unable to use temporary release to maintain contact with their family or put in place plans for their release,” Mr Taylor commented.
Inspectors found there was an overcautious approach as restrictions eased which meant, for instance, visits to the town were not allowed for women in open conditions and the only areas they had to take outdoor exercise in was the car park. Babies living in the mother and baby unit were not yet permitted to be taken out of the prison for day visits or overnight stays in the care of their family members, which was poor.
Some accommodation had been improved but much remained substandard, with rotting windows, leaks, damp, broken equipment and mould in the houses. In some houses as many as 20 women were sharing two lavatories and showers.
Inspectors found a strong leadership team at Styal but also that staff attrition rates were high, with almost a third of basic grade prison officer posts vacant. This meant the daily regime could not always be reliably delivered.
In conclusion, Mr Taylor said:
A strong and cohesive senior team left inspectors optimistic that this prison can continue to improve provision for what is a complex population. This will be dependent on building the capabilities of existing staff, while dealing with any poor behaviour that holds back progress, and critically, making sure that attrition rates do not increase. Only with a full complement of effective and dedicated staff will this prison be able to offer the care, challenge and regime that will support the rehabilitation of this group of women.
Notes to editors
- Read the HMP & YOI Styal report, published on 11 January 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.
- Styal was originally a children’s home, looking after children under ‘Victorian Poor Law.’ In 1956 the cottages began to hold Hungarian refugees and in 1960 Prison Commissioners purchased the site and three years later it opened as a semi-secure prison for women. In April 1999, the female wing at HMP Risley closed and in winter 2005/2006 HMP Buckley Hall re-roled to the male estate, meaning HMP Styal became the only female establishment in the north-west. HMP Styal currently has capacity for up to 486 women and receives remanded and convicted adults and young adults from courts all over the north-west serving any type of sentence from a few days to life.
- Inspectors identified five examples of notable positive practice.
- This inspection took place on 20 September and from 4–8 November 2021.
- Please contact media@hmiprisons.gov.uk if you would like more information.