Inspectors criticise ‘disproportionate’ restrictions
This contributed to prisoners’ frustration and potentially to a deterioration in mental and emotional wellbeing Peter Clarke, pictured left
SELF-ISOLATING inmates at a Midlands prison sometimes have to wait up to a fortnight for a shower, a damning inspection report said.
It revealed that many prisoners at HMP Hewell have reported mental health problems and are only allowed out of their cell for an hour a day. It meant that the jail “cannot be considered safe,” the report concluded. HMP Hewell is a large men’s prison near Redditch, taking inmates from across the Midlands.
The inspection report revealed a series of concerns following a visit last month after five months of Covid-19 restrictions.
Issues highlighted were:
Self-isolating prisoners waiting up to a fortnight for a shower
Almost a third of inmates said they did not feel safe
Progress in easing coronavirus restrictions was too slow
One hour a day out of cells was “not enough”.
Peter Clarke, HM chief inspector of prisons, said the stringent restrictions put in place at the start of the pandemic were no longer proportionate.
“There had been little progress in ensuring that prisoners had sufficient time out of cell or purposeful activity,” he said.
“This contributed to prisoners’ frustration and potentially to a deterioration in mental and emotional wellbeing. “Prison leaders at both local and national level should take note of the fact that 70 per cent of the prisoners we surveyed at Hewell reported problems with their mental health. One hour out of cell each day was simply not enough.”
The inspection team found that, while no prisoners had tested positive for the virus since April, social distancing was a “continuing challenge” and violence remained comparatively high.
The small number
of prisoners with symptoms who were isolating also could not have a shower regularly and sometimes had to wait for up to 14 days to do so.
Mr Clarke noted that a new governor had arrived five weeks before the visit and had increased time out of cell from half an hour to an hour, opened a workshop for a small number of prisoners and introduced an outside exercise session for all prisoners once a week.
Yet many workshops remained empty, classroom-based education was still not permitted and only 14 per cent of prisoners were employed.
He continued that the findings were a concern and concluded that Hewell “could not be considered a safe prison”.
However,
inspectors found
that overall the prison had managed the initial stages of the crisis well.
The prison had also started work on improvements following a troubling full inspection in June 2019 despite the pandemic interrupting many of these plans.
Mr Clarke added: “While we are acutely aware of the need to ease restrictions in a safe and measured way, we felt that progress had been too slow and the restrictions in place were no longer proportionate. “Additional improvements could be made by the governor, but further progress was limited by rigid national procedures which prevented a creative leadership team from implementing credible and safe plans to improve the regime.
“The governor was realistic about the significant challenges that lay ahead. He described an optimistic vision for Hewell of delivering a more person-centred, purposeful and rehabilitative regime within the constraints of running a busy local prison.
“The initial stages of the Covid-19 crisis had been managed well, and the challenge now will be to secure, as quickly as possible, a recovery plan that will enable the prison to fulfil its role safely and decently.”
The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.