Hewell inspection report 2023
Report for Hewell Prison
Summary
Hewell is a men’s category B reception prison serving the West Midlands that held 923 men at the time of our inspection, half of whom were unsentenced. When we last inspected in 2019, the prison was in a mess, with high levels of violence and drug use, very low staff morale and prisoners kept in unclean and unsanitary conditions. I am pleased to report that since the arrival of a charismatic and determined governor, the prison had made excellent progress and was now cleaner, more decent and safer. The governor had rightly focused on transforming the staff culture, working to improve the capability and confidence of staff and raise morale. He used the pandemic lockdown to reinvigorate the prison, creating a vison for the jail and developing his senior team. As a result, assaults on staff and between prisoners had reduced significantly and the prison felt safe and calm.