Deerbolt independent review of progress 2022
Report for Deerbolt Prison
Summary
we found no improvement and progress had been much too slow. The aspiration as COVID-19 restrictions lifted was much too limited for a training prison, with just 3.5 hours a day out of cell planned for most. But even this part-time regime, in its infancy when we visited, was unreliable despite the reduced population. The prison faced major staff shortages, which affected most aspects of the regime. 1.4 We saw workshops sitting empty because there were no staff available to unlock and escort prisoners. There were tiny numbers of prisoners in classrooms. Places in work and education had often not been allocated and many prisoners had not had initial assessments to determine the most appropriate activity for them. Those who were not in work or education places still spent 23 hours in their cells each day, and we found nearly two-thirds of prisoners locked up during the working day, more than at the 2021 inspection. Report of an independent review of progress at HMP/YOI Deerbolt 3 1.5 Leaders had made better progress in addressing our concerns about safety. There were clear improvements to the segregation unit and there had been reasonable moves to manage better perpetrators of violence and strengthen oversight of the use of force. But even this progress required a note of caution.