HMP & YOI Sudbury was offering good support to help
rehabilitate the men it held, said Peter Clarke, Chief Inspector
of Prisons. Today he published the report of an unannounced
inspection of the open prison in Derbyshire.
HMP & YOI Sudbury held 576 prisoners, including a small
number of young adults aged 18 to 21. Nearly all men were coming
towards the end of a long sentence. The central task of the
prison was to provide men with the conditions and support they
needed to prepare them for successful release back into the
community. At its last inspection in 2013, inspectors concluded
that the prison was failing badly in this central task and were
pleased at this more recent inspection to see that this had now
changed. There was evidence of positive work to rehabilitate the
men held.
Inspectors were pleased to find that:
- the prison was generally safe with few instances of violence,
and there was a downward trend in the number of
prisoners absconding and failing to return from release on
temporary licence (ROTL);
- there was a good focus on ensuring men only returned to
closed conditions after more serious transgressions of the rules
or after a period of reflection;
- arrangements for the small number of men self-harming were
good;
- security focused on the main challenges, relating to
preventing contraband from entering the jail;
- new psychoactive substances had been implicated in some
recent deaths in custody and the prison was focused on managing
these issues and supporting men with addictions;
- work to support men to develop educational and employment
skills had improved and a wide range of good opportunities were
now provided;
- a good range of ‘through-the-gate’ support was provided to
help men prepare for release; and
- offender management and public protection work had improved
considerably and casework was generally good.
Inspectors were, however, concerned to find that:
- not all instances of antisocial behaviour were investigated
and support for some victims of bullying was not always
sufficient;
- while the majority of staff supported the rehabilitative
ethos of the prison, prisoners responded more negatively when
asked about staff treating them respectfully and having someone
who would help them with a problem; and
- some work to help resettle prisoners on release was made more
challenging by the substantial number of men with only short
periods of time to serve and who as a result could not benefit
from the opportunities available.
Peter Clarke said:
“Sudbury was well led and had made significant progress
since our last inspection. It was now delivering some strong
support and doing much more to achieve its main aim of providing
rehabilitative opportunities for men held. There remained a small
number of important issues for the prison to address, but we left
confident that yet further improvement was within the prison’s
capabilities.”
Michael Spurr, Chief Executive of HM Prison & Probation
Service, said:
“I am pleased that the Inspectorate has recognised the good
progress that HMP& YOI Sudbury has made in creating a
positive environment to support effective rehabilitation. The
prison has made great strides since its last inspection and this
report rightly recognises the hard work and dedication of the
governor and his staff.”
- ENDS -
Notes to editors:
- A copy of the full report, published on 5 September 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.
- HMP & YOI Sudbury is a category D open resettlement
establishment for young adults and adult male prisoners.
- This unannounced inspection was carried out from 10-28 April
2017.
