The stability of HMP Birmingham was being adversely affected by
the high volume of illicit drugs available, said Peter Clarke,
Chief Inspector of Prisons. Prison managers and staff were
clearly committed to moving on and making progress after the
disturbance last year, he added. Today he published the report of
an unannounced inspection of the local West
Midlands jail.
HMP Birmingham holds a complex mix of prisoners and is
characterised by a very high throughput, with around 500 new
prisoners each month and an average stay of only six weeks. In
December 2016 a major disturbance took place at the prison.
Severe damage was caused to much of the more modern
accommodation. Four wings were undergoing repairs at the time of
the inspection and were not expected to be in use for some
months. Following the disturbance, around 500 prisoners were
moved out of the jail, leaving a population of over 900 to be
housed in the older Victorian accommodation.
The inspection two months after this serious disturbance was not
to enquire into events leading up to it, look for causal factors
or comment on the handling of the disturbance. The decision to
inspect was to establish the extent to which the prison was
housing its remaining prisoners safely and decently and to see
whether rehabilitative activity and resettlement work were being
successfully delivered. It was also intended to give a snapshot
of how the prison was performing in February 2017 to give the
leadership a baseline from which they could plan the continuing
recovery.
Inspectors were concerned to find that:
- the safety and stability of the prison were being adversely
affected by the high volume of illicit drugs, particularly new
psychoactive substances;
- 50% of prisoners said it was easy to get drugs, and as in so
many prisons, drugs were giving rise to high levels of violence,
debt and bullying;
- the prison had a good drug supply reduction strategy and was
working well with local police, but more needed to be done;
- there was still too much inconsistency in the way poor
behaviour was dealt with by staff;
- despite a good range of education and training provision, not
enough prisoners were able to take advantage of what was on offer
and there was insufficient priority given to getting prisoners to
their activities.
Inspectors were, however, pleased to find that:
- there were many positive interactions between staff and
prisoners and, in general, staff-prisoner relationships were
respectful;
- health care was generally good; and
- the community rehabilitation company (CRC) was working better
than in other jails.
Peter Clarke said:
“The leadership of the prison was clearly committed to meeting
the many challenges presented by this large and complex
establishment. The events of December 2016 had had a profound
effect upon many members of staff. There was still, some two
months later, a palpable sense of shock at the suddenness and
ferocity of what had happened. Despite this, there was a very
clear determination on the part of leadership and staff to move
on from the disorder, rebuild and make progress.
“I am well aware that this report is likely to receive very close
attention from many people who would like to understand the
reasons for the riot. That is not the purpose of this report, and
to attempt to use it in that way would be a mistake. This report
is no more, and no less, than an account of the treatment of
prisoners and the conditions in which we saw them being held
during the period of the inspection.”
Michael Spurr, Chief Executive of HM Prison & Probation
Service, said:
“This report provides an overview of HMP Birmingham two months
after the serious disturbance which took place on 16 December.
The Chief Inspector rightly draws attention to the impact of the
riot on prisoners and staff but describes a prison which is now
‘in recovery’ and making positive progress.
“There remains more to do to provide purposeful activity and to
tackle violence and illicit drug use but the staff and the
leadership team deserve credit for the commendable way they have
responded to the challenges to date.
“We are determined to learn lessons from what happened
at Birmingham and will work closely with G4S to achieve
improvement. Additional staff are being recruited and G4S will
use the recommendations in this report to drive progress over the
coming months.”
- ENDS -
Notes to editors:
- A copy of the full report, published on 28 June, can be found
on the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website at: www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons
- 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.
- HMP Birmingham is category B adult male local and
resettlement prison. It is operated by G4S Custodial
Services.
- This unannounced inspection was carried out from 6-17
February 2017.
