HMP Dartmoor

Gallery

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Reports

• HMIP9 Oct 2023

  Having been scheduled to close for some years, Dartmoor, one of the oldest jails in the country, received a reprieve in 2021 because of ongoing population pressures in the English prison estate. Many of the problems we highlight in this report stem from the costly failure by the prison service to plan adequately for this situation and, on this inspection, it was disappointing to see the doubling up of cells that were designed for, and at our last inspection held, one prisoner. Given the relatively older age of the Dartmoor population, the long sentences many are serving and the already inadequate numbers of work, training and education places, the inspectorate would be very concerned if the number of prisoners increases further. At our last inspection in 2017, we described a prison that was decaying fast with damp cells and buckets strategically placed underneath leaking roofs. This failure to invest in the infrastructure meant that the prison had not had some of the improvements that we have seen elsewhere, such as the introduction of in- cell phones, electronic kiosks, or fit-for-purpose health, education, or laundry facilities. Given the state of the jail, the leaders had done well to keep the prison clean and there had been refurbishment of some showers. Leaders had not developed adequate systems for collecting and monitoring accurate data in a number of key areas that were directly affecting outcomes for prisoners. They were not aware that there had been a decline in the number of social visits. Recently the booking line had been out of action, meaning prisoners were not able to see family and friends, which is already a challenge in such a remote prison. The monitoring of mail for some high-risk prisoners was not happening and the collection and response to incident reports was inconsistent. We were very concerned by the failure of leaders to monitor the regime adequately. It was significantly worse than they thought and was curtailed more than 80% of the time, with ad-hoc decisions to keep prisoners locked up made by individual officers. This meant that prisoners often were not allowed outside more than twice a week, and one prisoner who had been on the induction unit told me he had only been outside once in the eight days since he had arrived. This ongoing issue had not been identified by the regional team. Attendance at education was low, and again this was not being monitored or addressed. The offer from the education provider had not taken into account either the needs of the prisoners or regional labour shortages. Waiting lists to get work or into education were much too long and education staff shortages meant there were a limited range of courses available. One of the strengths of the jail was the peer work. Prisoners could earn work in trusted positions and reception orderlies, listeners and some excellent work done by the Peaceful Solutions scheme were helping to transform the lives of some troubled prisoners. The report from our 2017 inspection was highly critical of the support prisoners were receiving in progressing through their sentences, so we were very pleased to see a considerable improvement on our latest inspection. The very effective senior probation officer had built a well-motivated team that was offering some excellent support to prisoners. Disappointingly, despite this very good work, access to specific accredited interventions, which formed an important part of many prisoners’ sentence plans, held back sentence progression as they were not available at the prison. This was a cause of much frustration. Relationships between staff and prisoners were a real strength of the prison, although we did come across some officers whose behaviour was negatively affecting what was a generally positive culture. Leaders were at an early stage of addressing this challenge. The handover from the health provider to a new contractor had proved

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• HMIP29 Sept 2020

  Scrutiny inspection of HMP Dartmoor (2020-09-29)

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