HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire, with a significant number of
offenders serving lengthy sentences, had high levels of violence,
illicit drugs and use of force by staff, but there was some
evidence that the leadership was beginning to address problems,
according to a report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons published
today.
Evidence from an unannounced inspection in May and June 2017
mirrored many findings from the previous inspection in 2015, said
Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.
In 2015, Dovegate had a relatively new director trying to get to
grips with problems and “a challenging population of experienced
and often violent offenders.” At the time, Mr Clarke
said, “we expressed some optimism about the potential for
progress and our hope that improvement could be achieved.
Unfortunately, that optimism was misplaced and it would seem the
prison has experienced a number of difficult years since.”
In 2017, inspectors again found a newly appointed prison director
who “seemed to be getting to grips with the problems the prison
faced and improvements were beginning to gain momentum, although
it remained early days.”
The key concern for inspectors was that the “prison was still not
safe enough.” Levels of violence had dropped from a peak in 2016
but remained too high, despite some recent improvement over the
last year. About a fifth of assaults were serious and a quarter
of prisoners felt unsafe. Encouragingly, though, the prison
seemed to be putting in place meaningful strategies to reduce
this problem.
Inspectors also found:
- There had been one self-inflicted death since the last
inspection and self-harm in general was high, though a small
number of prisoners accounted for over a third of recent
incidents.
- The views of prisoners and contraband finds indicated that
the availability of illicit substances, including brewed alcohol
and new psychoactive substances (NPS) such as Spice, was
“considerable”. Substance misuse interventions to help reduce
demand were, in contrast, excellent.
- Use of force was high and often required the use of full
restraint. Supervision and arrangements to ensure meaningful
accountability were weak.
- Use of segregation was similarly high and inspectors heard a
number of concerns from prisoners about mistreatment in
segregation.
- The substantial number of black and minority ethnic and
Muslim prisoners reported far less favourably than white and
non-Muslim prisoners about their treatment across a range of
areas. There was little consultation with them to identify their
concerns or needs.
By contrast, inspectors also found Dovegate to be a “generally
respectful prison” with good living conditions for most
prisoners. Most prisoners felt respected by staff. A significant
number of prisoners were engaged in full-time work or training
and had a reasonable amount of time out of cell, although
inspectors still found over a quarter of prisoners locked up
during the working day.
Peter Clarke said:
“Overall we remain positive about Dovegate’s future. The prison
was well led and staff seemed to be growing in confidence.
Meaningful work was being undertaken to address weaknesses and
some early successes were evident. We left the prison with a
number of recommendations which we trust will assist the process
of improvement.”
Michael Spurr, Chief Executive of HM Prison and Probation
Service, said:
“This Inspection highlights good work being done at Dovegate but
raises a number of serious concerns, particularly around
safety, which need to be addressed. Serco have developed a robust
action plan to drive improvement, based on the Chief
Inspector’s recommendations. We will closely monitor
progress over the coming months.”
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
- A copy of the full report, published on 3 October 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 Dovegate, near Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, is a
category B training prison for men, with an additional small
local prison function.
- Built in 2001, Dovegate has a self-contained therapeutic
community (TC) and a separate training role for category B
prisoners, although it also has a small local prison function for
about 130 prisoners. Of 858 men in total held, over
three-quarters are serving sentences well in excess of four
years. Half are serving upwards of 10 years to life. This
inspection in May and June 2017
related only to the training and local
prison functions. The TC will be inspected separately.
- This unannounced inspection took place between 22 May – 8
June 2017.
