Wormwood Scrubs, the iconic West London jail, was found to be
suffering from persistent and intractable failings, including
high violence, drugs, chronic staff shortages and poor public
protection work, according to a report by HM Inspectorate of
Prisons (HMIP).
The jail, holding more than 1,200 men, has been inspected three
times in the last three-and-a-half years. Peter Clarke, HM Chief
Inspector of Prisons, said the inspections in May 2014 and
December 2015 raised “very serious concerns.” across our healthy
prison assessments.”
The latest inspection, in July and August 2017, was announced
and, Mr Clarke said, “we report again on the intractability and
persistence of failure at this prison, notwithstanding the hard
work of the governor and his staff to try to make some
difference.”
There were a number of major concerns:
- The prison had high levels of often serious violence,
resulting in some significant injuries. There had been a
‘dramatic’ increase in violence against staff, with more than 90
assaults in the six months to July. Despite efforts to tackle
violence, 65% of prisoners said they had felt unsafe at some time
and 36% felt unsafe at the time of the inspection. Drugs were
very accessible.
- Too many men were locked up for significant periods of the
day, some for as long as long as 23 hours. A total of 44% of
prisoners were found to be locked in cells during the day.
- The prison struggled to provide decent conditions. Outside
areas were strewn with litter, attracting rats and cockroaches.
Some food serveries were left uncleaned, in an ‘appalling’ state.
- Far too many windows facing the perimeter wall were broken,
which enabled prisoners to retrieve contraband thrown over the
wall.
- Equality and diversity work had been neglected and was poor -
in a jail with a 60% black and minority ethnic (BME) population.
- There were long delays in Carillion, a contractor, carrying
out maintenance tasks, and the prison stores had not been open
for many weeks, leaving staff to scavenge for many basic items
needed by prisoners.
- Resettlement and offender management work was “fundamentally
failing”, the report said, “and the prison was not meeting one of
its key aims of supporting men to understand and address their
offending behaviour and risk.” The quality of public protection
work – assessing and managing the risk posed by prisoners on
release - was also not good enough.
Some progress, however, had been made. Support for new prisoners
in their early days had improved. Oversight of the use of force
was better than previously and, while use of force was high,
incidents looked at by inspectors were proportionate. The
segregation unit also did reasonably well, with some very
challenging men, and health care was reasonably good.
Staff were remarkably stoic despite the pressures they were
under, Mr Clarke said. Pervasive staffing shortages – arising
from recruitment problems and the loss of experienced staff -
resulted in significant staff redeployment and a failure to
deliver even basic services.
Mr Clarke said: “Overall, this was an extremely concerning
picture, and we could see no justification as to why this poor
situation had persisted since 2014. The governor and his team
were, to their credit, working tirelessly to address the problems
faced… This was commendable. But we were not confident that they
could deliver improvement to outcomes without considerable
additional external support. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation
Service (HMPPS) must, in our view, engage with the governor and
his team to develop a recovery plan.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “HMP Wormwood Scrubs has
taken decisive action to reduce violence, and is working closely
with Carillion to urgently improve conditions at the prison. We
know staffing remains an issue, so we are recruiting 120 extra
officers and will cut the time taken for new recruits to begin
training. The addition of new, senior probation staff has also
led to significant improvements in resettling offenders into the
community following release. We are pleased inspectors recognised
the hard work and dedication of staff at the prison, especially
in improving education and purposeful activity.”
- ENDS –
Notes to editors
- A copy of the full report, published on 08 December 2017, can
be found on the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website
at: www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons
- HMP Wormwood Scrubs is a local prison serving the courts of
West London, and is a designated resettlement prison for London
prisoners. It holds young adults on remand and is a hub prison
for foreign national prisoners subject to immigration
enforcement.
- HMP Wormwood Scrubs was built by prisoners from Millbank Gaol
between 1875 and 1891. In 1902, the last female prisoner was
transferred to HMP Holloway. In 1922, one wing became a borstal.
During World War II, the prison was used by the War Department.
In 1994, a new hospital wing was completed and in 1996 two of the
four existing wings were refurbished to modern standards while a
new fifth wing was completed.
- HM Inspectorate of Prisons is an independent inspectorate,
inspecting places of detention to report on conditions and
treatment, and promote positive outcomes for those detained and
the public.
- This announced inspection took place between 31 July and
11 August 2017.
