Holloway, the UK’s largest women’s prison, has received one of its best ever inspection reports months before it is due to close.
Her majesty’s chief inspector of prisons says that after years of highly critical reports the latest inspection found a “much improved” picture since two years ago.
The inspectors nevertheless endorsed the decision by the justice secretary, Michael Gove, to close Holloway, saying the need to hold women in smaller prisons made it an obvious candidate for closure.
The inspection was carried out in October, before Sarah Reed was found dead in her cell while on remand in January. Reed had been the victim of a police brutality case in 2012 and was known to have mental health issues. However, in their generally positive report the inspectors criticise Holloway for unacceptable delays in moving women with such issues to secure hospital beds.
Holloway, which opened in 1852 and was completely rebuilt in the 1980s, held 525 prisoners and had an operational capacity for 591 at the time of the inspection.
The inspection report found that the jail was safe and well controlled with little risk of serious violence. Those identified at risk of self-harm were generally well cared for. It does however continue to criticise the fact that too many women reported feeling unsafe on their first night and many women were housed in cramped dormitories with little privacy.
“The environment at Holloway remained a significant challenge, but this was mitigated by managers and staff placing decency and respect for the individual at the centre of their work,” said Martin Lomas, deputy chief inspector of prisons.
“The welcome fall in the number of people in prison creates the opportunity to reduce the number of prison places available to them. The need to hold women in smaller establishments makes Holloway an obvious candidate for closure. As this inspection shows, Holloway’s poor design limits what can be achieved, despite the efforts of staff,” said Lomas.
Michael Spurr, the chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, said the inspection report was probably the best ever written on Holloway and praised the professionalism of staff at the jail since its closure was announced in November.
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “This is a bitter sweet report documenting how hard managers and staff have worked to turn a sprawling, rundown prison into a decent place for women. Now the closure of Holloway offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not only to sell off a prime London site and make up some of the deficit in Ministry of Justice coffers, but also to develop a proper community alternative to custody for the very many vulnerable women who need not be imprisoned.”
