HMYOI Aylesbury had deteriorated further in some areas and safety
was a major concern, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector of
Prisons. Today he published the report of an unannounced
inspection of the young offender institution in Buckinghamshire.
HMYOI Aylesbury holds around 440 young adult men serving the
longest sentences for this age group in the country. Most of the
population are aged between 18 and 21. At its last inspection in
2015, inspectors commented on debilitating staff shortages which
had negative consequences for prisoners. This more recent
inspection found little progress had been made and some areas had
deteriorated further. Inspectors found volatile and frustrated
young people, too few staff and many who were inexperienced and
prisoners locked up for long periods with no activity and too
little sentence progression. These factors led to some poor
outcomes. Safety was a major concern.
Inspectors were concerned to find that:
- nearly two-thirds of prisoners reported that they had felt
unsafe at some point and there were high levels of sometimes very
serious violence;
- mechanisms of accountability for the very high use of force
had effectively broken down and management oversight was very
poor;
- many residential units were in poor condition and basic
standards of decency were not being achieved;
- the management of equality and diversity was weak;
- time out of cell remained poor and work, training and
education activities, despite some improvements, were too
limited; and
- lack of staff in the offender management unit undermined risk
assessment and rehabilitation work.
Inspectors were, however, pleased to find that:
- health services were good and faith provision was very good;
and
- the prison continued to provide a wide range of interventions
to address offending behaviour and the Aylesbury Pathways
Service, which gave some troubled prisoners opportunities to
understand and then change behaviour, was reducing incidents of
self-harm.
Peter Clarke said:
“HMYOI Aylesbury showed some areas of considerable potential.
Most staff appeared remarkably resilient and wanted to improve
the prison. There were excellent areas of innovation which
provided prisoners with valuable work skills in a realistic work
environment. The Aylesbury Pathways Service continued to provide
outstanding support to some of the most vulnerable and troubled
young men in the prison estate.
“If the cycle of poor inspections of Aylesbury is to be broken,
these strengths need to be built upon. It is time to stop
rediscovering the same problems and to take concerted action to
deal with them at all levels. Some areas of concern, such as poor
governance of use of force, could be addressed by the
establishment. Others, such as staffing and difficulties with
securing progressive transfers for prisoners, needed action from
HMPPS. The management team had a clear understanding of the
challenges and the commitment to make progress, but needed
support to implement our recommendations. Failure to do so yet
again cannot be acceptable.”
Michael Spurr, Chief Executive of HM Prison & Probation
Service, said:
“The Chief Inspector is right to praise the professionalism and
resilience of staff at Aylesbury. They do some remarkable
work with young adults serving long sentences who have complex
needs and whose behaviour can be very challenging.
“Improving safety and addressing ongoing staffing challenges
remain the Governor’s top priorities.
“This is why additional staff are now being deployed to Aylesbury
from other establishments to provide a consistent regime for
prisoners and there are firm plans in place to fill vacancies
through permanent recruitment.
“A Violence Reduction Plan is being actioned and the Governor
will receive the support she needs to improve the performance of
the YOI over the next 12 months”.
- ENDS -
Notes to editors:
- A copy of the full report, published on 17 August 2017, 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.
- HMYOI Aylesbury is a young offender institution holding 18 to
21-year-old male prisoners serving from four years to life
imprisonment.
- This unannounced inspection was carried out from 4-5 and
24-28 April 2017.
