The Mount inspection report 2022
Report for The Mount Prison
Summary
At our last inspection in 2018 of The Mount, a category C prison near Hemel Hempstead, we found a prison that was deteriorating to the extent that in every healthy prison test the establishment was judged poor or not sufficiently good. The prison held about 1,000 adult men at the time of the visit, with more than two-fifths assessed as either high or very high risk of harm to others. At this inspection, we found an improvement in the test of safety, which was now reasonably good, and a slight improvement in rehabilitation and release planning, but no improvement in outcomes for respect and purposeful activity. The senior leadership team had an appropriate vision that included improving safety, the maintenance of decent standards and developing progression opportunities for the men held there, but there remained some basic and persistent barriers to success. Ofsted, our partners who joined us at this inspection, judged the provision of education, work and skills to be inadequate, their lowest judgement. The prison did not have a comprehensive overview or evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of education provision and had not provided enough purposeful activity places for the population.