Response to the Justice Committee inquiry on ‘Rehabilitation and Resettlement: ending the cycle of reoffending’ From His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons

• We welcome the opportunity to submit a response to the Justice Committee’s call for evidence.
• His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMI Prisons) is an independent inspectorate whose duties are primarily set out in section 5A of the Prison Act 1952. We provide scrutiny of the conditions for and treatment of prisoners and other detainees and report publicly on our findings. HMI Prisons’ inspections are carried out against published inspection criteria known as Expectations. The Inspectorate sets its own inspection criteria to ensure transparency and independence.[1]
  
  [1] Inspection Framework, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, March 2024

Regime and time out of cell – adult estate

• Prisoners ought to be able and expected to engage in activity that is likely to benefit them. However, we continue to find regimes that are often far more limited than the 10 hours or more a day unlock that we expect to see. In a recent key findings paper, survey evidence from inspections of closed prisons in 2023-24 revealed that more than two-thirds of prisoners spent most of their days in their cells with little to occupy them. Just 7% reported being unlocked for 10 or more hours a day. Restrictions on unlock were even worse at weekends, with 37% of men and women out of their cells for less than two hours.[1]
• Poor time out of cell is particularly acute in men’s reception prisons, where 50% of prisoners report spending more than 22 hours in their cells on a typical weekday, rising to 72% at weekends. Meanwhile 34% of those surveyed at young adult prisons in 2023-24 told us they spent less than two hours out of their cells on weekdays, 24% in the high secure estate and 23% at Category C training prisons, where prisoners ought to be gaining qualifications and skills to help them find employment and avoid reoffending on release. Reported time out of cell was notably better in the open estate.[2]
• Accompanying survey analysis to our 2023-24 Annual Report revealed that remand and unsentenced prisoners in the men’s estate who reported knowing what the unlock and lock-up times were supposed to be were less likely to agree that those times were usually kept to (46% vs. 63%). Remand and unsentenced prisoners in the men’s estate were also more likely to report spending less than two hours out of their cell, both on weekdays (48% vs. 18%) and at the weekend (71% vs. 29%) and also reported more negatively than sentenced prisoners on the time available for domestics, association, opportunities for outside exercise and going to the gym.[3]
• Remanded or unsentenced women who reported knowing what the unlock and lock-up times were supposed to be were also less likely to agree that unlock and lock-up times were usually kept to (44% vs. 74%). Remand and unsentenced women were also much less likely to report spending 10 hours or more out of their cells on a typical weekday (5% vs. 39%) or at the weekend (2% vs. 29%). Only 35% of remanded or unsentenced women said they could go outside for exercise more than five times in a typical week, compared with 74% of sentenced women.[4]
• IPP prisoners surveyed in 2023-24 in the men’s estate tended to report more positively than other prisoners about time out of cell. The area where they reported significantly less positively was their ability to go to the gym or play sports twice a week or more (38% vs. 49% of other prisoners). In the women’s estate, differences reported by IPP prisoners about time out of cell were not statistically significant.[5]
  
  The training and education offer – adult estate
  
• Beyond time out of cell, the effectiveness of education, skills and work activities in prisons remains poor. Our 2023-24 Annual Report noted that Ofsted had judged overall effectiveness in 33 prisons in England as ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’, with 32 receiving the same judgement for the quality of education. Purposeful activity continues to be the worst performing area that we inspect, with key issues raised including shortages of activity spaces (further exacerbated by population pressures), staff shortages negatively impacting delivery of courses as well as prisoner attendance and the training and work available not equipping prisoners with the right skills.[6] We continue to find minimal wider creative, recreational, or social activities in many jails. Our joint thematic report with Ofsted revealed very poor or no teaching of reading in many jails, despite the obvious need.[7]
• Curriculums and provision ought to be ambitious for all prisoners, including those with special education needs and disability or learning difficulties, and yet often this is not the case. Individualised provision is often not available.
• The inspectorate has consistently raised concerns about the infrastructure and maintenance of certain prisons. We expect prisoners to be able to live in a clean and decent environment which is in a good state of repair and fit for purpose. Our thematic about improving behaviour in prisons found the physical environment of a prison to be a visible reinforcement and constant reminder of the culture leaders were trying to establish, cultures which ought to be seeking to reduce reoffending. Visible signs of disorder and misbehaviour in an environment risk encouraging further poor behaviour by normalising it.[8]
• Sometimes maintenance issues directly impact the education and training offer. At HMP Lindholme the closure of two large hangers that had contained workshops limited the offer available to prisoners, contributing to boredom and drug-taking by prisoners to pass the time.[9] At HMP Wymott storm damage to the roof had resulted in the closure of most of the workshops for prisoners living on the main wings so about a third of men could not access skills or employment activities outside work on the wings.[10]
  
  Rehabilitation programmes – adult estate
  
• Accredited programmes and interventions are often required by the prison service or the parole board to allow prisoners to progress to lower-security categories within the prison estate and reduce their risk of harm and re-offending. Population pressures have meant that many prisoners have been unable to move to a jail where a particular programme is available, hindering their ability to progress. Inspectors found this was an issue at jails including HMP Lindholme, HMP Whatton and HMP The Verne.
• At some establishments we see imaginative use of non-accredited programmes. At HMP Oakwood various short programmes were available, including violence and gang reduction and life skill courses, about which prisoners spoke highly.[11]
  
  Prisoner health and wellbeing – adult estate
  
• Whilst some prisoners access health and wellbeing support in prison, sometimes for the first time, many prisoners experience custody as challenging for their health and wellbeing. Only 52% of men and 56% of women surveyed from inspections during 2023-24 agreed they could lead a healthy lifestyle always or most of the time.[12] Prisoners also regularly tell inspectors about the detrimental effects the limited time out of cell detailed earlier has on their mental and physical health.[13]
• Of those who said they needed help with their mental health via our survey, only 39% of men said they had received help, and 41% of women who reported having a mental health problem said they are receiving help. Of particular concern, some prisoners have told us in our survey that they have developed new problems on arrival into prison, for example with illicit drugs (6% of women, 9% of men) and medication not prescribed to them (5% of women, 7% of men).[14]At Lindholme, a shocking 21% of men said they had developed a problem with illicit drugs since arriving in the jail.[15]
• Some recent positive examples of rehabilitative adult prisons, where we judged purposeful activity to be ‘Good’, include HMP Oakwood. About 95% of prisoners were engaged in purposeful activity, most of which was full-time, and an exceptional range of enthusiastic and capable peer workers provided valuable support to fellow prisoners across most areas of prison life.[16] Similarly almost all prisoners were engaged in work or education at HMP Kirklevington Grange and HMP Hatfield, with HMP Kirklevington Grange in particular having some positive provision for neurodivergent prisoners.[17]
  
  Regime, time out of cell and the training and education offer – children’s estate
  
• In our surveys from inspections in 2023-24 only 72% of children and young people reported spending more than two hours out of their cells during the week and less than half (43%) reported this at the weekend. However, this varied dramatically between sites, with children at Oakhill STC and Parc YOI reporting more time out of cell than at the other sites, particularly at the weekend. The percentage of children who reported receiving the basic entitlement of exercise in the fresh air each day had fallen to 61% from 71% the previous year. Just 40% of children reported going to the gym or playing sports once a week or more, compared with 52% previously.[18]
• The response to high levels of conflict was the key barrier to children being out of their cells and engaging with activity in 2023-24. An absence of effective behaviour management systems has meant that many managers resort to keeping children apart from one another to minimise violence.
• The percentage of children across the estate who reported engaging with education had fallen to 78% in 2023-24 from 88% the year before, with 16% reporting that they were not doing any education, training, work or interventions. With the exception of Feltham, there was no education provision at weekends. Ofsted judged the education provision to be inadequate at Feltham, Werrington and Cookham Wood. Only Oakhill STC had education provision that was judged to be good.[19]
  
  [1] Purposeful prisons: time out of cell. A key findings paper by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, September 2024
  [2] Purposeful prisons: time out of cell. A key findings paper by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, September 2024
  [3] 2023-24-MENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx
  [4] 2023-24-WOMENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx
  [5] 2023-24-MENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx and 2023-24-WOMENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx
  [6] HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales Annual Report 2023-24
  [7] Prison education: a review of reading education in prisons – GOV.UK
  [8] Improving behaviour in prisons: A thematic review – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [9] HMP Lindholme – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [10] HMP Wymott – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [11] HMP Oakwood – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [12] 2023-24-WOMENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx / 2023-24-MENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx
  [13] Purposeful prisons: time out of cell. A key findings paper by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, September 2024
  [14] 2023-24-WOMENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx / 2023-24-MENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx
  [15] HMP Lindholme – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [16] HMP Oakwood – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [17] HMP Kirklevington Grange – HM Inspectorate of Prisons / HMP/YOI Hatfield – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [18] Children in custody 2023-24. An analysis of 12-18-year-olds’ perceptions of their experiences in secure training centres and young offender institutions
  [19] Children in custody 2023-24. An analysis of 12-18-year-olds’ perceptions of their experiences in secure training centres and young offender institutions

• Our Offender Management in Custody thematic report (Nov 2022) highlighted critical issues with pre-release work, with delivery falling short of expectations.[1] Challenges remain, for example keywork is too limited in many jails, and some continue to struggle with probation staff shortages in prison and/or the community. Generally, however, we find mostly good evidence of POMs and COMs making contact, handing over and planning for release, except where staff shortages in certain areas like London impeded this.
• Our 2023-24 Annual Report highlighted weaknesses in the management of public protection, and this has continued to be an issue in 2024.[2] The sheer volume of short sentences, recalls and early releases in prisons like HMP Peterborough (men’s) and HMP Nottingham made it very challenging to have good oversight of the planning for all high-risk prisoners.
• Given that most prisoners will one day be released, pre-release work is vital. It has been a particular concern to find, as a result of population pressures, prisoners being released from prisons which do not have a resettlement function and therefore do not have all of the necessary support in place. Our 2023-24 Annual Report found more positive preparation for release outcomes in the open estate, women’s prisons and PCoSO prisons. Outcomes in the high secure estate, reception and training prisons were less positive.[3] More work is needed to join-up resettlement services which are often overcomplicated and poorly staffed.
  
  Accommodation
  
• Too many prisoners are homeless or only have temporary accommodation to go to on the day of release. At HMP Durham the data for sentenced prisoners on release showed that 64% did not have sustainable accommodation (intended to last more than 12 weeks) and a quarter were released homeless.[4] At Drake Hall, only about 40% of women had been released to settled and sustainable accommodation in the previous 12 months.[5] At HMP Hull, a lack of housing stock in the local area and significant demand for social housing made sourcing accommodation for prisoners especially challenging.[6]
• Prisoners themselves tell us that they do not receive the help they need with accommodation. For inspections published between April 2023 and March 2024, we asked detainees expected to be released in the next 3 months via our survey ‘Do you need help to sort out the following for when you are released: finding accommodation?’. Of those who said they did, in men’s prisons, only 41% said they were receiving help. In women’s prisons, 50% said they were getting help with accommodation.[7] Housing support provision is often too disjointed – we find jails without housing workers, jails without enough housing workers and providers that can only work with local or low and medium risk prisoners. In some areas there is simply not enough housing to go out to.
• The inspectorate continues to be particularly concerned about accommodation provision for prisoners on remand. At prisons like HMP Belmarsh and HMP/YOI Chelmsford, outcomes for these prisoners were largely unknown. These outcomes are not recorded by HMPPS and many leave court without us knowing what happened next.
• Where jails bring together multiple agencies with enough time before release to review all resettlement needs, outcomes tend to be better. A promising recent development has also been the introduction of Strategic Housing Specialists, based in prisons.
  
  Employment
  
• A small number of jails achieve excellent outcomes, for example HMP East Sutton Park, where 60% of women had maintained paid employment 6 months post-release, but employment outcomes across the estate vary considerably.[8] Beyond employment, prisoners often also need support accessing universal credit and opening a bank account (where there are often many caveats and barriers to doing so), as well as practical assistance e.g. charging phones.
• As with accommodation, prisoners themselves tell us that they are not always receiving the help they need with employment. For inspections published between April 2023 and March 2024, we asked detainees expected to be released in the next 3 months via our survey ‘Do you need help to sort out the following for when you are released: getting employment?’. Of those who said they did, in men’s prisons, only 33% said they were receiving help. In women’s prisons, 46% said they were getting help with employment.[9]
  
  Health and wellbeing
  
• Again, prisoners tell us that they do not always receive the help they need with health and wellbeing. For inspections published between April 2023 and March 2024, we asked detainees expected to be released in the next 3 months via our survey ‘Do you need help to sort out the following for when you are released: physical/mental health support and, separately, support for a drug or alcohol problem?’. Of those who said they did, 44% of men and 64% of women reported they were getting help for drug or alcohol problems, with only 29% of men and 37% of women reporting getting help with physical/mental health support.[10]
• As well as accommodation, employment, heath and wellbeing, the role of family ties and relationships is often also crucial. In our survey however, only 29% of men said they had been able to see family or friends in person in the last month. Population pressures also increasingly mean that many prisoners are held further from home, especially in the women’s estate.[11] It is often too difficult and expensive for families to get to prisons for visits that are too short and not always at the right days or times.
• Some recent positive examples of adult prisons where we judged preparation for release activity overall to be ‘Good’ include HMP Rye Hill, HMP Kirklevington Grange and HMP/YOI Drake Hall. At HMP Rye Hill, prisoners had a good awareness of their sentence planning and felt supported by staff in achieving sentence plan targets. Key work was good and a good range of accredited interventions were offered which were appropriate for the population.[12]
  
  Recall
  
• Finally, despite recall numbers being the highest on record, we often find a lack of dedicated support for these prisoners, contributing to a cycle of release and recall. The lack of support available for these prisoners was particularly stark at jails including HMP Hull, where over 1,300 men had been recalled to prison in the last year,[13] HMP Lewes, HMP/YOI Chelmsford and HMP Nottingham. There was often very little useful they could do in prison on a short fixed-term recall.
  
  [1] A joint thematic inspection of Offender Management in Custody – pre-release
  [2] Annual Report 2023-24 – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [3] Annual Report 2023-24 – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [4] HMP Durham – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [5] HMP/YOI Drake Hall – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [6] HMP Hull – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [7] 2023-24-WOMENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx / 2023-24-MENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx
  [8] HMP/YOI East Sutton Park – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [9] 2023-24-WOMENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx / 2023-24-MENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx
  [10]2023-24-WOMENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx / 2023-24-MENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx
  [11] 2023-24-MENS-COMPARATOR-WORKBOOK-QA.xlsx
  [12] HMP Rye Hill – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  [13] HMP Hull – HM Inspectorate of Prisons