HMP High Down

Reports

• HMIP3 May 2024

  1.1 HMP High Down is a category C training and resettlement prison holding over 1,150 adult men mainly from the London area. Most were serving long custodial sentences of four years and over. In recent months the population convicted of sexual offences had doubled to 350, about a third of the total population. 1.2 This review visit followed up on 11 concerns raised at our last full inspection in 2023. One of the concerns was reviewed jointly with Ofsted, and assessments of progress from both inspectorates are included in this report with a combined, overall judgement (see Preparation for release). What we found at our last inspection 1.3 At our previous inspections of HMP High Down in 2018 and 2023 we made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners. Figure 1: HMP High Down healthy prison outcomes in 2018 and 2023 Note: rehabilitation and release planning became ‘preparation for release’ in October 2023. 1.4 In August 2023, outcomes for prisoners remained the same as they were at our inspection in 2018. Outcomes in respect were reasonably good, poor in purposeful activity and not sufficiently good in both safety and rehabilitation and release planning. 1.5 In 2023, we noted that the widespread availability of drugs was contributing to high levels of prisoner debt and was the main driver for violence, which remained far too high. High Down was not fulfilling its role as a category C training and resettlement prison. There was not enough meaningful work or activity and the understaffed offender management team was unable to undertake work required to help reduce reoffending. Report of an independent review of progress at HMP High Down What we found during this review visit 1.6 At this review visit, we found good progress in two areas of concern, reasonable progress in three and insufficient progress in three. Ofsted found reasonable progress against two of their themes. We reviewed one concern with Ofsted and our joint assessment was that progress against it had been insufficient. 1.7 Although leaders had taken extensive steps to try to prevent drugs getting into the prison, the availability of illicit substances continued to be a serious concern that undermined safety and stability. The rate of positive drug test results remained as high as at our full inspection in 2023. Leaders were working well with community-based agencies and other criminal justice bodies to develop a more robust response to criminal behaviour in the prison, and there was a good focus on delivering drug treatment and recovery support. However, Ofsted found that the provision of purposeful activity was still not good enough and prisoners told us that boredom often led to them using drugs. 1.8 Rates of violence were high and had risen slightly over the last nine months. There continued to be a direct link between drug use, debt, bullying and violence. Work had been undertaken to make sure incidents were investigated, but the quality of challenge, support and intervention plans (CSIPs) was not yet good enough. Leaders showed a genuine commitment to promoting positive behaviour across the prison and were making progress in developing a clearer pathway for prisoners to move into more specialist units. 1.9 The number of men who had self-harmed was similar to our previous inspection, but there had been a slight drop in the rate of incidents. However, the quality of completed assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) case management documents for prisoners at risk of suicide or self-harm remained poor. There had been some progress against our health care concerns, but too many men were still missing their appointments, despite the implementation of better systems and processes to improve this. 1.10 Leaders had made good progress in providing accredited programmes for prisoners convicted of sexual offences, but given the population had

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• NPM-uk-imb-safety1 Jan 2024

  The safer custody team monitors the safeguarding of prisoners. Multi-disciplinary meetings focus on current areas of concern and provide oversight on individual prisoners of concern. The security team works to secure the safety and stability of the establishment. 4.1 Reception and induction Reception manages the arrival and departure of prisoners transferring between establishments, attending outside hospitals, escorts to court appearances and releases. There were 695 transfers in during 2024, compared with 1,535 in 2023, and there were 1,663 hospital escorts. As stated in our 2023 report, a significant number of transfer-in vans continue to arrive late in the afternoon/early evening. Reception is manned until 6pm and processing arrivals after this time requires cross-deployment of staff, which has a detrimental impact on evening regime for other prisoners. Late arrivals also mean a delay in processing property, causing frustration for prisoners and staff. New arrivals are processed in reception, after which they should be taken to the induction wing, where they ordinarily remain for three to seven days to complete their induction. In the IMB survey, 80% of prisoners who responded felt that they did not find induction helpful, a 25% increase on the previous year. Didn’t have induction. The cell was dirty and not equipped. Induction was rushed and a quick tick box exercise. Induction process non-existent. 4.2 Suicide and self-harm, deaths in custody Deaths in custody: The [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-respect1 Jan 2024

  5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Accommodation: There was a small decrease in accommodation related applications (prisoners’ written representations to the IMB) in 2024, accounting for 5.7% of total applications received by the IMB during the year. Cells: 76% of prisoners the IMB surveyed told us that their cells were not ready when they arrived at HMP High Down (a 12% increase from 2023). Prisoners told us about missing items, and a poor state of cleanliness of cells: I had to ask for a mattress and pillow as well as a TV, phone and kettle. I spent a week with no pillow. Toilet blocked for six days so had to urinate in the sink. No cutlery or plate for two days. My cell smelt of urine and had spit marks on the wall, no heating, no toilet seat or curtain, was told by Gov to deal with it. Showers: There are still several showers around the prison waiting to be refurbished, with no privacy available. In most showers ventilation is poor, contributing to build-up of mould and peeling paint, meaning the condition of even refurbished showers is often poor. Where privacy doors are fitted, in many cases these doors have been partially or fully removed. Whilst some disabled prisoners are in cells with showers, other prisoners with physical disabilities tell us that the shower situation is challenging, meaning they shower infrequently. Issues include some disabled showers being kept locked, meaning prisoners are reliant on staff availability to unlock them, a fire alarm fault in one [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-preparation-for-release1 Jan 2024

  The early release scheme SDS40, announced in the summer, which allowed the release of those on standard determinate sentences after 40% (rather than 50%) of the sentence being served, is very complex to administer. The operation of the complicated system and prisoners serving concurrent sentences meant a great deal of time was taken up putting the policy into practice. OMU should have a compliment of 10.5 probation officers, but has 5.5, due to community probation staffing taking precedent over those working in prisons. The shortfall in HMP High Down is back-filled by prison officers who have been trained to support probation staff. Caseloads for prison offender managers (POMs) remain very high. Many prisoners report there is little or no communication between them, OMU and/or their POM. HMP High Down continues to complete high numbers of OASyS (offender assessment system, a tool used by prison staff to complete a risk and needs assessment on prisoners) and now has a dedicated POM to facilitate this work, which has reduced the backlog this year. In our end of year survey, 46% of prisoners said that they felt well prepared for release. The Board hears comments from prisoners who are frustrated at their perceived lack of sentence progression. Many of the offending behaviour courses have selection criteria that mean priority is given to those who will be released within the next 12 months. This leads to some prisoners feeling that there is nothing available to them and causes [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-purposeful-activity1 Jan 2024

  Around 150 prisoners attend education on any given day. The attendance rate is around 60%, which is an improvement on 2023 and exceeds the 2024 target of 55%. Nearly 90 prisoners are currently doing Open University degrees funded by the Prison Education Trust. Prisoners are only funded to do one further education course. It is pointed out that this is the same provision as in the community, although this restriction can be difficult for prisoners who are serving longer sentences. The Essential Digital Skills course was continued throughout 2024; however, with a fairly stable population of longer-term prisoners, there is less need for this basic course and it is to be cut down in 2025 and replaced by other IT classes. During the early part of 2024 there was a concern that PCoSO did not have the same access to education and library as other prisoners. With the addition of a second PCoSO houseblock, there is now more opportunity for this population and we are advised by the education team that PCoSO now have equal access to education and library, with the exception of the Railtrack course. The Storybook Dads programme (an initiative to support parents in prison to record bedtime stories and messages for their children) was suspended in late 2023 due to library staffing issues, but the Board is pleased to report that this was restarted in 2024. Library attendance is described as good, with 800 prisoners a month attending. PCoSO have equal access to the library as other [...]

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• HMIP13 Nov 2023

  The transition of High Down from a reception prison to a category C training and resettlement jail was originally announced as far back as 2015, with the first prisoners moved over the next three years. Further delays meant that the change was only finally completed in April 2022, with staff and prisoners left in a state of uncertainty for many years. Despite these delays, there had still not been sufficient planning or preparation by the prison service, leading to many of the problems we highlight in this report. There had also been five governors since our last full inspection in 2018, which had added to the instability of the prison. This left the current governor, who arrived in March 2022, with an enormous challenge to affect such considerable physical and cultural change in the jail. She had developed a clear vision of how she wanted the prison to run and had begun to make progress, particularly with improving the capability of the workforce and developing the regime. At this inspection, it was clear that High Down was not yet close to fulfilling its function as a category C prison. Although the regime had been expanded and was better than we had seen previously, it was nowhere near what it should be. There were not enough activity places for the population, meaning many prisoners did not have enough to do – 200 were unemployed and most were only in part-time work, education or training. Many were limited to very basic and uninspiring work on the wing. Only for the few who were in full time work, was the prison offering an experience that was akin to employment in the community. This was not helped by the low local rates of pay received by prisoners in education because they were only allowed to attend part time. Attendance at education was also very poor at just over half in recent months, and in a maths class I observed just three out of 11 prisoners had turned up. The dedicated team at the offender management unit were only able to work with prisoners who were coming up to important milestones such as parole because they were hugely understaffed; they were unable to offer anything like the support that many prisoners needed to reduce their risk of future offending and resettle back into the community. There was also very limited provision of accredited programmes, particularly for sex offenders, which often meant they were unable to fulfil the terms of their sentence plans. Key work, a crucial way of supporting sentence progression, was also not operating effectively. The widespread availability of drugs was a cause of high levels of prisoner debt and the main driver of violence which remained much too high. The proportion of drug tests proving the use of illicit substances was among the highest of all men’s prisons in England and Wales. The prison completed far too few tests on those suspected of using drugs, which meant that users were not being disincentivised, particularly as many adjudications were not proceeded with. It was therefore disappointing that reducing the ingress of drugs was not one of the prison’s priorities. Leaders had not yet done enough to support staff during the transition to category C; in our survey many said morale was very low and some we spoke to during the inspection were both anxious and resistant to the change. They also complained that they rarely saw senior leaders around the prison. If the governor and her team are to win over hearts and minds, they will need to increase significantly their visibility around the jail and improve the way they communicate with staff and prisoners. Our healthy prison test scores at this inspection were the same as in 2018, rating the jail as insufficiently good for safety and rehabilitation and release planning, reasonably good for respect and poor for purposeful activity, but there had been some improvements. The prison was in better condition, with many

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• HMIP7 Apr 2021

  Scrutiny inspection of HMP High Down (2021-04-07)

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