Thameside inspection report 2022
Report for Thameside Prison
Summary
Thameside is a modern category B local prison in south-east London that contained 1,194 prisoners at the time of our inspection. Around 60% of those held were on remand or unsentenced and almost a quarter were category C prisoners who were often at the end of their sentence and preparing for release. The prison had been too slow to increase the amount of time that prisoners were unlocked, with those in the induction and drugs wing spending little more than half an hour a day out of their cells. Remand prisoners were locked up for up to 23.5 hours a day with very few activities on offer; this was particularly concerning for the 60 prisoners who had been on remand for more than a year. A COVID-19 outbreak that occurred just as the prison was entering stage two of the HMPPS five stage recovery framework meant that restrictions could not be lifted, but since then leaders should have done more to open up the regime and increase what was on offer for prisoners. Offender management unit (OMU) staff were doing some excellent work in the prison – they proactively contacted prisoners, were a visible presence on the wings and provided good support.