Prison criticised in report
USE OF FORCE ON INMATES FAR HIGHER THAN IN SIMILAR JAILS, SAYS CHIEF INSPECTOR
PRISON staff at a jail near Burton have been criticised for the “high use of force” on inmates.
HMP Sudbury coped well with the Covid crisis, inspectors said, but needs to urgently improve “poor staff-prisoner relationships”.
The open prison, which holds 480 men - many transferred there to ease their transition back into society before release - was found to be “generally safe”, with few incidents of violence or self-harm.
However, Charlie Taylor, HM chief inspector of prisons, said segregation and “incidents of force” were “far higher” than inspectors had seen in other open prisons.
He said: “While most force involved just the use of ratchet handcuffs to escort prisoners to segregation, this high usage could be tracked back to 2019 and had continued through the period of restrictions.
Leaders needed to review this to understand the reasons.”
Many inmates were often left “frustrated” by poor access to probation workers, the inspections, carried out in April and May, found. The jail had suffered a Covid outbreak in early March, but Mr Taylor said prison leaders had worked well with healthcare providers and Public Health England to contain it.
The “primary purpose” of HMP Sudbury, Mr Taylor said, was to prepare prisoners for their successful return to the community on release.
At the last full inspection, in 2017, inspectors reported that outcomes in this regard were improving.
The pandemic, however, had disrupted the prison’s ability to maintain that progress.
Although it was “encouraging” that around 50 inmates had continued to use release on temporary licence (ROTL) to access external employment, the numbers, generally, had “greatly reduced”.
For prisoners classed as a “high risk to the public”, probation service prison offender managers (POMS) had maintained onsite provision, including face-to-face support.
However, 60 per cent inmates were allocated POMS - and many had not had adequate contact for several months.
Mr Taylor said: “It was clear that prisoners’ lack of access to offender management was a source of considerable frustration.”
At the time of the inspections, HMP Sudbury had announced the resumption of social visits.
Prison leaders were also planning to increase the number of opportunities for ROTL to maintain family ties from mid-may 2021, although a cautious approach meant that very few prisoners would initially benefit from this.
Mr Taylor said the reintroduction of face-to-face teaching was to be limited to small numbers, even though inspectors had identified that classroom space was available.
Many communal areas, particularly on the older units, were dilapidated and grubby and significant investment was needed.
Inspectors were also concerned that they received many negative comments about staff.
Only 61 per cent of prisoners said staff treated them with respect and a third said they had been subjected to “victimisation”.
The report noted many reports of staff being abrupt, unhelpful and having a punitive approach.
It added: “Nevertheless, some prisoners were able to name some good staff and we found some committed, energetic staff doing positive - and, in some cases, innovative work with prisoners.”
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Our highly trained officers use force as a last resort and in the overwhelming majority of cases it is unfortunately necessary to protect themselves or others from harm.
“The majority of these incidents relate to precautionary handcuffing of prisoners who pose a high risk to others when being moved within the prison.”