Problems Identified at Prison

An inspection of the prison has found it to be lacking in safety, giving prisoners purposeful activities and good rehabilitation and release planning.

Home Affairs Minister Jane Poole-Wilson said her department is already making progress on the issues identified and welcomes a return visit next year.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor identified 14 key concerns which included issues with governance and oversight of critically important areas of accountability, for example use of force, segregation and safeguarding.

The report added: ‘The treatment of prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm was inadequate. Interventions or responses were often disproportionate and too often lacked sufficient focus on care for individuals or their well-being. For example, the use of segregation, and especially special unfurnished cells, was inappropriate for people in crisis.’

It also found that clinical governance of health service was weak, the education and work system failed to prepare prisons for employment after release and public protection arrangements were found not to be robust.

The report said: ‘The lack of offence-focused interventions meant that most prisoners were released without addressing their offending behaviour or risk of harm to others. This included some serving long sentences for serious offences.’

It also found that new male prisoners are held in conditions that inspectors found to be ‘unnecessarily intrusive and restrictive’. ‘Regardless of risk, prisoners were subject to 30-minute observations in cells, with constant video monitoring for the first 24 hours. They were also kept locked up excessively in their early days at the prison.’

The report identified insufficient safeguards to protect the well-being of prisoners placed in segregation, security procedures were disproportionate to the risk posed and were needlessly restrictive, most prisoners spent very little time in the education, work or activity placement to which they had been allocated and more needed to be done to strengthen family ties.

Minister Jane Poole-Wilson said that the gov is ‘committed to ensuring that our services are efficient and effective and independent inspections play an important role in meeting that objective’ and that her department is working to improve conditions.

This work includes the creation of  aCompliance and Audit Team to oversee governance across Prison and Probation, introduction of risk assessment and new documentation to staff, and quality assurance checks to be carried by supervisors.

Prison Governor and head of probation, Leroy Bonnick, said: ‘I am very proud to be leading an organisation such the Island’s Prison and Probation service. I am part of a complex environment that can only function if we continue to champion effective leadership and this report is an essential benchmark of where we are and where we need to be going forward with the priority and key concerns that are highlighted in the report.  I am confident we will have addressed the issues identified by the time HMIP conduct its follow-up inspection in 2024.

‘I would like to thank all staff for their hard work and dedication during the past few years in what has been turbulent times. Not forgetting the co-operation and understanding of all prisoners.’

The full report, alongside an improvement action plan, are available to read on the Prison and Probation service webpage.