'Difficult and challenging time' for jail in pandemic

A team of inspectors who check up on HMP Durham say its bosses have faced a “difficult and challenging time” of managing its 950 inmates during the pandemic.

The Independent Monitoring Boards( I MB) group which checks on the Old Elvet jail has released its latest report into the Category B reception prison, with its work carried out remotely since the C ovid -19 outbreak.

Keith Young, the IMB’s chairman, said the prison has had to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic in unprecedented ways.

It has led to stricter measures, with prisoners spending the majority of their time in cells, inspectors found.

This has meant reduced staffing levels but has proved a challenge for prisoners’ mental health.

AsHMP Durham is a reception prison, it averages 16 admissions a day which lead to a high risk of the virus being brought in.

Family visits have been suspended in lockdown, with video link and phone contact maintained instead.

Nine prisoners died at the prison during the reporting year, three more than the year before – three were of natural causes and six were self-inflicted or self-harm.

Overcrowding continues to be a major concern with most cells occupied by two prisoners. Inspectors have again brought the issue to the Minister of State’s attention.

A new body scanner was installedin the prison in July and this has played a “major part in detecting secreted items being brought into the prison” the report finds.

Inspectors praised the Safer Prison Team for its ‘diligent work to analyse data’ surrounding violence, self-harm and vulnerable prisoners.