Inspectors discovered that 700 prisoners were doubling up in cells designed to hold one person at a “badly overcrowded” private jail in South Yorkshire where five inmates took their own lives in the space of a year.
Widespread drug use, self-harm and “worrying” levels of violence were also found at Doncaster prison, a report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons says.
Doncaster, which opened in 1994, is one of five jails run by the outsourcing firm Serco.
The chief inspector of prisons, Peter Clarke, said: “[The] dangerous combination of ready availability of drugs, lack of any meaningful way to pass the time and overcrowding will obviously give rise to tensions and frustration, particularly with such a young population. As such, it was hardly surprising that at times staff struggled to maintain control.”
There were 1,100 prisoners in the prison at the time of the inspection in September last year, just shy of its operational capacity of 1,145, the report says. However, the jail’s in-use certified normal capacity – a measure that strips out segregation units, healthcare cells, damaged cells and cells closed due to building works or staff shortages – was 729.
Clarke said: “I saw many cells holding two people that were simply not fit to do so, on grounds of both size and simple decency. It will not be good enough, in response to this situation, for HM Prison and Probation Services (HMPPS) to fall back upon their usual explanation that a senior manager has certified that a certain number of prisoners – in this case 1,145 – could in their view be held in decent conditions in this establishment.
“The sophistry that flows from this is that, in the view of HMPPS, conditions such as those at Doncaster are described as crowded but not overcrowded, and that there is therefore little or no overcrowding across the prison estate.”
The report says the overcrowded conditions for many were compounded by a lack of meaning activity, and too many inmates were locked up for too long. “Inspectors saw many men – in a population with around a third aged under 25 – with little meaningful to do,” Clarke said.
He said there were five self-inflicted deaths in the year leading up to the inspection and one more shortly after the inspection. The number of self-harm incidents had increased, he said.
Inspectors found that recommendations made by the prisons and probation ombudsman, which investigates deaths in custody, and learning points from previous deaths at the prison were not routinely reviewed.
The number of prisoners on assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) support – the care planning process for prisoners identified as being at risk of suicide or self-harm – was high to the point that it was “unmanageable”.
Assaults had decreased but were still higher than at the time of the previous inspection in 2017 and higher than at comparable prisons, the report says. Six in 10 prisoners said it was easy to get hold of drugs, a “very high” figure, the inspection found.
Inspectors assessed the prison to be reasonably good in the “healthy prison test” for respect. Its rehabilitation and release planning was also reasonably good in a prison with a complex population.
Frances Crook, the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “We all want to reduce crime, and we all want people leaving prison to become law-abiding citizens who have turned their lives around. But we will not achieve this if we continue to cram prisons with more and more people than they are designed to hold.
“The chief inspector is entirely right to call out the ‘sophistry’ that leads to 1,100 men being thrown into a jail meant for 700, and his demand for change must be heard and acted upon. Finding an answer to the problems in prisons such as Doncaster is one of the biggest challenges in the secretary of state for justice’s in-tray as the government starts to look beyond Brexit. The solution begins with a commitment to reduce the number of people behind bars.”
Phil Copple, the director general of prisons, said: “Since the inspection a new safety management team has been put in place to drive down violence and vulnerable prisoners are being given better support.
“We recognise that crowding is a major challenge for some prisons across the estate but we are investing up to £2.5bn in an extra 10,000 places, in addition to the 3,360 places in new jails at Wellingborough and Glen Parva.
“While there is much work to be done at HMP Doncaster, we are pleased inspectors have the confidence in Serco and the staff to deliver improvements.”
Jerry Spencer, Serco’s contract director at HMP Doncaster, said: “Doncaster prison holds one of the most complex and challenging groups of prisoners in the country.
“During the inspection, the chief inspector saw how determined everyone here is to improve on the challenges we face and clearly there is much to do, but we share his optimism for the future.”
