HMP Rye Hill, a modern training prison in the Midlands holding only
men convicted of sexual offences, was found by inspectors to have
remained an effective prison.
Of the 659 prisoners held at the time of the inspection in
September 2019, some 488 were serving sentences of more than 10
years, and over 100 were serving indeterminate sentences,
including life. Almost all posed a high risk of serious harm to
others. Inspectors assessed the prison’s rehabilitation and
release planning, including public protection and preparation of
men to transfer to prisons that would release them, to be good –
the same grade as at the previous inspection in 2015.
Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “This is
basically an effective prison delivering good outcomes.”
Rye Hill continued to be a safe prison. The amount of violence
recorded was not excessive and those incidents that did occur
were not normally very serious. “The atmosphere in the prison was
settled and most prisoners seemed motivated to engage with the
staff and the daily regime.”
Self-harm was relatively high, although a comparatively small
number of prisoners accounted for a disproportionate number of
incidents. Mr Clarke commented: “Those in crisis suggested to us
that they felt well cared for, aided in part by good peer support
engagement.”
Rye Hill had become a more respectful prison. In this ‘healthy
prison test’ it had improved from not sufficiently good to
reasonably good. “Relationships between staff and prisoners were
constructive and supportive, encouraged further by well managed
key worker and very useful peer worker schemes.”
Rye Hill was clean and well maintained, and cell accommodation
was very good. Access to amenities such as clothing, showers and
cleaning materials was similarly good. “The very impressive
grounds and garden areas, to which prisoners had reasonable
access, were a civilising feature of the prison’s environment and
were likely to have supported the sense of well-being among the
men,” Mr Clarke said.
Prisoners were unlocked for meaningful amounts of time and very
few were locked up during the working day. There was good access
to recreational facilities, including a valuable activity centre
offering support for older, vulnerable and disabled men. Work to
promote education, skills and work was not as good, however.
Ofsted inspectors judged the overall effectiveness of education,
skills and work as ‘requires improvement’, which was
disappointing.
Mr Clarke added: “The prison was more successful in managing and
addressing one of its core tasks, that of managing the risk of
harm among those being held there. Almost all had an assessment
of their risk and needs (OASys) and a sentence plan, and most
prisoners understood what was expected of them.” Public
protection work was satisfactory though support for the few
prisoners who were released from the prison needed to be
improved. Most men at Rye Hill went on to other prisons before
release.
Overall, Mr Clarke said:
“At Rye Hill we found a well-led establishment working hard to
promote the well-being of its prisoners, to sustain a credible
community ethos and to create a meaningful rehabilitative
culture. We found some very effective outcomes and while there
were gaps, there was every reason to believe that the prison was
very well placed to improve still further.”
, HM Prison and Probation
Service (HMPPS) Director General for Prisons, said:
“G4S is running an effective prison at HMP Rye Hill which is
focused on giving offenders the skills they need to turn their
lives around. Since the inspection, increased checks and support
have been put in place for those prisoners most at risk of
self-harm, and I am confident that the prison will respond to the
report’s recommendations to improve even further.”
End -
Notes to editors
1. A copy of the full report, published on 7 February 2020, can
be found on the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website at:
www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons
2. 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.
3. HMP Rye Hill, close to Rugby in Warwickshire, is a category B
prison for men aged over 21, serving sentences of over four years
who have been convicted of sexual offences. HMP Rye Hill opened
in 2001. In summer 2014, the prison was re-rolled to hold an
entire population of prisoners convicted of sexual offences.
4. HM Inspectorate of Prisons assesses adult prisons against four
‘healthy prison tests’ – safety, respect, purposeful activity and
rehabilitation and release planning. There are four assessments –
good (4), reasonably good (3), not sufficiently good (2) and poor
(1). At its inspection in 2015, Rye Hill scored 4-2-4-4. In 2019
it scored 4-3-3-4.
5. Notable features from this inspection: all prisoners were
convicted of a sexual offence; 90% of the population had been
assessed as high or very high risk of serious harm to others; 90%
of the population was serving either an indeterminate sentence or
a sentence of 10 years or more; a fifth of the population was
over the age of 60; two-thirds of the population had only
attained level 1 or lower in English or mathematics.
6. This unannounced inspection took place between 1 and 13
September 2019.
